Police dismantle encampment at University of Houston

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Police moved quickly to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Houston on Wednesday, arresting at least two students, according to university officials.

Protesters had set up a blue tarp to cover the fields at the university’s Butler Plaza and surrounded the area with wooden barricades. They joined students across Texas and the country to demand that their schools divest from manufacturers that supply weapons to Israel for its strikes on Gaza. Protesters were also demanding that UH remove McDonald’s, Sabra and Starbucks franchises from campus because they claimed the companies allegedly financially supported Israel.

Around 9 a.m. Wednesday, campus police dismantled the barricades and cut the tarp from under the protesters’ feet. At least two police officers were seen with riot shields, videos of the protest posted online showed.

One student was arrested for failing to identify himself and a second student was arrested for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, the university said.

“Tents and encampments are not permitted on campus per state law,” a university spokesperson wrote in a statement. “The group was allowed to continue their protest, consistent with UH policies.”

After the encampment was dismantled, protesters moved the demonstration outside the Harris County Joint Processing Center, where it appeared the arrested students had been taken. About a hundred people chanted and applauded passing cars whose drivers honked their horns in a sign of solidarity.

Bubbles were escaping from a small machine at one end of the crowd, separated in the middle by sheriff’s deputies standing outside the building’s entrance. A law enforcement officer appeared to photograph the crowd from down the block.

Protests on Texas campuses last month have already tested how they manage tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas and their commitment to free speech on campus. As pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli students engage in protests and heated discussions, school leaders struggle to balance their roles as moderators and facilitators of intellectual debate on campus.

At the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Dallas, law enforcement made more than 150 arrests during pro-Palestinian protests over the past two weeks. State, city and campus police broke up protests in Austin with pepper spray, batons and horses.

Alejandro Serrano contributed to this story.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus for higher education coverage.

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