Pro-Palestine protesters arrested at Metropolitan State University of Denver

A pro-Palestinian protest at the Auraria Campus in Denver on Friday, April 26, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

Auraria campus police arrested a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters at a building at Metropolitan State University of Denver on Tuesday evening.

According to an Instagram live stream from the Colorado Palestine Coalition, about 14 people sat in a circle inside the Advanced Manufacturing Sciences Institute shouting calls of support for Palestine while more protesters outside chanted and banged on the building.

At least 10 protesters, including two wheelchair users, were arrested at 6:30 p.m. Most appeared to be released after about an hour and left the building with yellow pieces of paper.

Earlier in the day, protesters entered the Tivoli Student Union as Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, met with a group of protesters just before noon, Auraria and MSU officials said in statements.

Protesters who met with Paccione threatened to “disrupt the commencement ceremonies if demands were not met,” campus officials said in a statement.

Another group “forcibly entered the Student Union offices and occupied them for approximately an hour before meeting with campus leaders at a later date and leaving,” the statement said.

In a message titled “Protesters Escalate Tactics,” Metro State President Janine Davidson incorrectly stated that protesters used zip ties to lock the student union doors.

Davidson later said that police, not protesters, locked the doors with cable ties.