UH students arrested at divestment protest camp

Two University of Houston students were arrested Wednesday morning after university police cleared tent encampments set up overnight by about 60 students to protest the recent war between Israel and Hamas.

Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston set up camp in the university’s designated free speech zone, Butler’s Plaza, as early as 4 a.m. Wednesday, joining other student movements across Texas and the United States led by their Administrations have called for solidarity with Gaza and withdraw funding from companies that contribute to the ongoing war.

“We are not asking for the university to go bankrupt. We call on them to stop funding the war,” said Amna A., a Palestinian UH student who asked that her last name be omitted for security reasons.

Amna has family in the West Bank and grew up with the “ripple effects” of bombings, resistance and a 75-year legacy of apartheid, she said.

“The university is treating this issue as a trivial matter and a free speech issue, but for me it is a matter of life and death,” she said.

UH officials said officers arrived at 7:45 a.m. and gave verbal warnings to disperse every 15 minutes, but students continued to protest. According to a spokesman, University of Houston police and officers from surrounding areas broke up the encampment at 9 a.m. in compliance with state law banning tents and encampments on campus.

Officers arrested two students — one for failing to provide identification and another who was accused of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, a university spokesman said in an email.

Lt. D. Cheek of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that a male student was arrested and is facing charges of assault on a police officer and that a female student was arrested for trespassing.

The protest was “very peaceful,” said Farah S., a demonstrator with the Palestinian Youth Movement Houston. But she said things got worse when police showed up, crowding students and destroying their camps and belongings.

“They chose to escalate,” she said.

The group was allowed to continue their protest in accordance with UH guidelines, UH officials said.

“We support the constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly and continue to encourage groups to safely engage in expressive activities, comply with university policies and state laws, and respect the rights of others with differing views,” a UH spokesperson said in a statement Statement statement to the landing.

The students left Butler Plaza and marched across campus to the UHPD precinct at 4051 Wheeler Ave., where the two arrested students were taken into custody before being transported to the Harris County Joint Processing Center downtown.

Shortly after 11 a.m., more than 100 students and community leaders gathered to protest outside the processing center and support the arrested students. The demonstrators want to stay until the students are released.

Protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and “We want justice, say how?” Now free all our comrades” among other hours-long battle cries, while MPs constantly reminded protesters not to block the sidewalk and an open space for passers-by to keep free.

Students took short breaks at regular intervals to drink and eat snacks and pizza slices from Pepperoni’s, all donated by community members, organizers said. But after just a few minutes it started again.

“We will stay here until our comrades are free,” Reyna Valdez, a senior student organizer at SJP, said Wednesday afternoon.

The mother of the arrested male student asked to remain anonymous but said she discussed the camp with her son this morning before she went to work and advised him to be cooperative.

She didn’t expect anything to happen, but said she specifically told him not to resist arrest, just in case things escalated.

Then she went to work and received a call from a friend telling her he had been arrested.

“I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer,” the mother said at the entrance to the Harris County Processing Center. “And then I found him on Life 360 ​​and saw him at the police station.”

After an hour-long drive downtown, she tried to get answers, but authorities didn’t immediately know what charges her son was facing, she said. After discussions with the group’s lawyers, her concerns were addressed, she said.

“I know my son,” she said. “He’s not doing anything wrong, so hopefully everything will be okay.”

Wednesday’s chain of events represents an escalation of previous demands dating back to March 23, 2022, when the UH Student Government Association passed a “Divest from Death” resolution calling on the UH Board of Regents to divest Boeing, Raytheon and to withdraw its financial support from Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Northrop Grumman – the five largest aerospace and defense companies in the world.

“Despite pressure and calls from the student body, the UH Board of Regents has repeatedly failed to divert UH endowment funds from weapons manufacturers who commit occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine,” SJP organizers said in a news release.

The UH Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Campaign, a student-led coalition of registered student organizations, is calling for the Board of Regents to vote on divestment and adopt a socially responsible investment (SRI) policy at its upcoming May 15 meeting, that prohibits investment in occupation, apartheid and militarism, and that UH removes McDonald’s, Sabra and Starbucks from campus due to their financial support for Israel.

“We don’t want our universities to be complicit in genocide,” Valdez said.

Many students woke up early Wednesday after staying up late to study for their final exams, Valdez said. He braved the heat and prepared for a long day of protests to show the university that they are politically aware and prepared to act accordingly.

“It is extremely frightening to see men, women and children being bombed indiscriminately and herded into extremely cramped quarters with no access to water and no access to help,” Valdez said.

They also wanted to support UH students who are Palestinian and struggling to keep up with school while also struggling to stay in touch with their families abroad and find out if they are still alive, she added .

“We also saw that our university did nothing to support them,” Valdez said. “They have done nothing to help them when they are having difficulty in class because they are obviously dealing with a tremendous amount of distress and anxiety.”

The students plan to mobilize their protest efforts directly to the Board of Regents during its May 15 meeting.

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