Massive pro-Palestine protest takes place at UNT. Here’s what happened

Upwards of 1,000 people participated in a peaceful protest Tuesday at the University of North Texas, organized by student activist groups who called for a walkout to “stand in solidarity with Gaza and our comrades at universities across the nation” who have been arrested during recent protests.

The protest lasted roughly two hours.

Just after 2:15 p.m. protesters marched from the mall to the campus administration building, shouting their demands of campus leadership and stopping for a few minutes, before making a loop back to the mall around 2:45 p.m.

Unlike the scenes in UT Austin and across the country over the past week, protesters on campus were not met with a large police presence, with less than a dozen campus and city police officers spotted around the perimeter of the protest.

Most protesters did not wear masks but many wore gray and white keffiyehs — a symbol of Palestinian independence — and a few waved Palestinian flags.

Junior Talia Irsh, one of the organizers, said she joined the Palestine Solidarity Committee at UNT, a student-led organization “dedicated to the justice and liberation of Palestine.”

“As I saw the injustices unfold in Gaza I along with many other students decided to do something about it,” Irsh said.

There were no pro-Israel counter protests spotted on campus.

Students with bullhorns led chants that urged the university to divest from Israeli corporations, saying “you’re supporting genocide!” Other video showed widespread chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” similar to other student protests across the country.

Many consider the phrase anti-Semitic and anti-Israel . The American Jewish Committee said the phrase has been a rallying cry for the terrorist groups Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The two groups —Palestine Solidarity Committee UNT and UNT Young Democratic Socialists of America — posted on their social media a call for students and faculty to walk out at 1:30 p.m. at Library Mall.

Their post urged students to “walk out of class and to demand an end to the complicity of our universities in the Palestinian genocide.”

Protests, sit-ins and encampments have roiled Ivy League campuses over the past two weeks, with demands primarily focused around forcing universities to divest from companies doing business with Israel or profiting from the war in Gaza.

What are the university protests demanding?

Pro-Palestine students and activists have sought to bring attention to the death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

A police crackdown at Columbia University in New York inflamed the situation, prompting more protests at other campuses across the country with students showing solidarity. In the early hours of Tuesday, a group at Columbia including students took over campus building Hamilton Hall.

In addition to standing in solidarity with campuses across the country, the protesters at UNT have specific demands for their campus as well.

“Disclose and divest,” was chanted repeatedly, with protesters calling on the university to disclose its investments and for the College of Engineering to sever ties with weapons manufacturers Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon.

Protesters also called on the university to protect them from Gov. Greg Abbott’s crackdown on Pro-Palestinian speech earlier this month.

There were also calls for the university to apologize for virtual appearances made by two members of the Israeli army at an event for a campus Jewish organization.

Asked if encampments like those at other universities were on the table, Irsh said “that’s the wrong question to ask” and added the university should stop being “cowardly” and talk to the student protesters.

“Why won’t they come out here and talk to us? Why won’t they meet our demands? Why won’t they apologize? Why won’t they, um, cease any disciplinary action against student organizers and student protesters?” Irsh said. “That’s the real question.”

What happened at UT Austin?

At the University of Texas in Austin, at least 79 people were arrested Monday on criminal trespassing charges after law enforcement forcibly removed protesters from an encampment on South Lawn . Officers used pepper spray and flash bang explosives to disperse crowds. Last week, nearly five dozen people were arrested at UT, with Gov. Greg Abbott posting on social media that “these protesters belong in jail.”

“Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled,” Abbott wrote.

The Travis County attorney’s office rejected all criminal trespass charges from last week’s protests.

Abbott has come under fire for his comments and the deployment Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the campus, which seemingly contradicts a law the governor signed in 2019 that he said “protects free speech on college campuses in Texas.”

Peaceful protests and sit-ins have also taken place at UT Dallas , UT Arlington and UT San Antonio .

Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, taking roughly 250 people hostage and resulting in about 1,200 deaths. Israel responded with a massive military campaign; more than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then.