AUSTIN, Texas — State police officers arrested dozens of protesters who set up a pro- Palestinian encampment at the center of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday in a fiery showdown that turned violent on the final day of classes for the spring semester.
By midday, several hundred people were seated on the lawn of the academic pavilion, refusing to leave after campus officials and law enforcement asked them to do so.
The demonstration is one of dozens at colleges and universities nationwide in which students are protesting university connections to corporations that have contracts with the Defense Department or support Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Police physically carried out protesters after they were handcuffed, even dragging some in custody who refused to walk away from the scene. University officials said in a statement that demonstrators had ignored "repeated directives from both the administration and law enforcement officers" to dismantle their tents, accusing them of verbal and physical encounters with staff attempting to take down the encampment.
“Baseball size rocks were found strategically placed within the encampment,” the statement reads . "The majority of protesters are believed to be unaffiliated with the university. On Saturday, the University received extensive online threats from a group organizing today’s protest."
Police from UT were the lead law enforcement agency, while a few hundred other officers from the Austin Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety were also on scene. UT police did not respond to a request for comment on the number of arrests.
Following the arrests and the takedown of the encampment, the remaining hundreds of protesters clashed several blocks away with police.
Two flash bangs exploded out of sight of the encampment.
"We are being assaulted by flashbangs. They are throwing flashbangs at us," one police officer stated on the radio of a nearby officer.
The crowd of hundreds pushed police back toward the encampment by marching in the streets. The police retreated roughly three blocks before encountering a city bus that was transporting state troopers off-site.
The protesters circled the bus and blocked the bus from leaving campus, all while chanting, "Off our campus!"
Protesters obstructed the road and forced the bus to drive in reverse three blocks while the crowd pounded on the windows of the bus and taunted police.
The bus eventually departed as police moved in to prevent the protesters from blocking another exit. A Travis County Sheriff's Department bus arrived and police loaded several dozen protesters already in custody, prompting another clash after the bus pulled out.
Police pepper-sprayed the protesters who refused to back up.
"You are violent. We are peaceful," protesters chanted. At other points in the standoff, the crowd taunted police with chants of "APD, KKK, IDF," likening Austin police to the Ku Klux Klan and Israel Defense Forces.
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The crowd also jeered at law enforcement throughout the hourslong standoff with the chant "F*** you, fascists."
Police left the scene around 7 p.m. local time after all arrestees were transported off campus and the hundreds of protesters marched back to the area of the encampment.
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