State troopers in riot gear and law enforcement from multiple agencies took down tents set up by pro-Palestine students at the University of Texas at Dallas, where at least 20 people were arrested Wednesday amid nationwide demonstrations in support of Gaza.
The chaotic scene unfolded around 4 p.m. local time, after school officials handed a letter to students ordering the immediate removal of “all tents and structures” from the campus’ Chess Plaza.
The area, currently nicknamed “Gaza Liberation Plaza,” was taken over around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday by dozens of protesters, who set up an encampment to demand the university divest from “five militarism manufacturers and war profiteers that have been enabling the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Those five companies include Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing, according to a statement by the Students for Justice in Palestine at UT Dallas.
“We reject our university’s complicity in profiting off the genocide,” the group added, vowing to “continue to escalate and put pressure on our university” until the school “divests from war profiteers and Palestine is free.”
Holding signs and chanting “Long live Palestine” and “Free, free Gaza,” protesters echoed similar demonstrations held at universities across the nation in the past week and a half, with students calling for institutional accountability and demanding an end to the death of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces.
“We are not going to back down,” Adam, a protester who identified himself as a UT Dallas senior, told local TV station KDFW early on Wednesday. “It is very much within our rights to stay in the free speech zone on campus.”
But in the letter handed to student leaders Wednesday afternoon, UT Dallas officials wrote that “the setting up of an encampment … is not permitted,” and “all tents and structures should be removed immediately.”
“Failure to comply with this instruction may result in removal for criminal trespass or other violations of state law and/or sanctions under the student code of conduct as appropriate,” the letter added.
Law enforcement moved on the encampment just after 4 p.m. and forcefully began removing protestors. At least 20 people were arrested for criminal trespass, according to Collin County Assistant Chief Deputy Jeff Price.
“Unlike [at UT] Austin, the Collin Co DA is unlikely to drop these trespass charges,” Fox 4 Dallas reporter Steven Dial wrote on social media.
Most of the officers had left the plaza by 6 p.m., according to The Dallas Morning News. Some 100 students continued to protest — chanting and marching, with some waving Palestinian flags — to another area of the school.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel in the early hours of Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and taking roughly 200 more hostage.
The attack triggered an onslaught of Israeli airstrikes and ground assaults, which have led to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis, and experts say the territory is on the brink of famine.