Dozens more arrested at UT-Austin as police use pepper spray, flash bangs to break up protests

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers surround a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune)

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It was a familiar scene outside Travis County Jail Monday evening as friends and family of protesters arrested earlier in the day waited to hear news of their loved ones. Last Wednesday, a nearly identical scene unfolded after campus police clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of Texas at Austin.

Law enforcement responded with more force on Monday, dragging dozens of protesters from an encampment on the university’s South Lawn before deploying pepper spray and flash bang explosives to disperse crowds of hundreds of people.

Medics treat protesters suffering from heat exhaustion at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune)

Amidst the chaos, volunteer medics rushed in with wet towels and water to aid protesters in the unshaded area as temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees. Police told the medics to stay away.

“I saw a lot of terrified faces today,” said Carrie Mullins, a masters student at UT-Austin who said she wanted to help protesters by providing them water. She instead found herself helping people who had been pepper-sprayed by police get to safety.

“I felt the spray, and then I saw everyone running back,” Mullins said. “A lot of people were afraid, then I heard the bang from the flash bang.”

On Wednesday, a pro-Palestinian rally broke out after students had walked out of class with demands that UT-Austin divest from manufacturers supplying Israel weapons in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Israel launched its war on Gaza after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7. Protests — mostly peaceful — have expanded at universities across the county over the last couple of weeks as students have established encampments on campus to draw attention to ongoing violence in Gaza.

By 3:30 p.m. Monday at least 40 people were arrested and many others were given medical attention because of the sweltering heat.

James Clark, an attorney with the Travis County Public Defender's office, told The Texas Tribune that over 90 people were arrested Monday. Jail officials would not comment. George Lobb, a member of the Austin Lawyers Guild, told the Tribune that probable cause affidavits would not be released until 10 a.m. Tuesday.

On Monday, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers formed a ring around the encampment that had grown to about 60 protesters. As UT police officers began making arrests, more protesters gathered to rally in support of the encampment and against the heavy presence of law enforcement.

University of Texas at Austin students begin to form an encampment on the South Lawn of the University’s campus on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune)

The UT police department issued a dispersal order Monday afternoon, telling protesters that their conduct on the South Mall violated multiple sections of Texas’ Penal Code and that they would be arrested if they did not leave.

“Your conduct is in violation of Penal Code Sections 42.01 Disorderly Conduct, 42.02 Riot, 42.03 Obstructing a Highway or other passageway, 30.05 Criminal Trespass,” the order from assistant chief Shane Streepy reads.

Elias Baez, a senior at UT, said Monday the students were peaceful and the police response was unjustified. Baez said the focus of the protests is to urge the university to divest from companies supplying the Israeli government with weapons.

“We don’t want our tuition money going to bomb innocent people,” Baez said.

Health authorities in Gaza have reported that over the past seven months more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed.

The Tribune observed as several demonstrators sitting inside the encampment were dragged away by their arms and legs by law enforcement officers, while observers and protesters recorded videos and yelled.

Many protesters who were pulled away and arrested seemed visibly unwell, stumbling away while handcuffed. Austin police officers were also on the scene, passing out plastic zip ties in apparent preparation to restrain more demonstrators.

A University of Texas Police Department officer arrests a pro-Palestinian protester from an encampment set up on the campus’ South Lawn. (Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune)

Law enforcement disperses a crowd at a pro-Palestinian demonstration with flash bangs at the University of Texas Austin on April 29, 2024. (Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune)

“We wanted to provide water and first aid in case people get exhausted in this sun,” said Matthew Blanley, a volunteer with Austin Street Medic. The volunteer organization ended up treating more than 100 people with injuries that included at least one pepper spray-induced asthma attack.

The crowd of onlookers swelled into the hundreds as even more law enforcement officers arrived on the scene and violence further escalated between protesters and the police.

Meanwhile, protesters shouted “We are being peaceful, you are being violent.”

Around 5 p.m., as law enforcement attempted to leave campus with a bus full of people who had been arrested, protesters swarmed the vehicle, writing "pigs” on the side, throwing water at the bus and shouting "shame."

Students linked arms, forming a barricade in front of about five state troopers on motorcycles who were escorting the bus out. The troopers rolled forward, pressing their bikes into the backs of protesters as UT police officers ripped into the group, pulling and pushing away protesters.

One person fell to the ground after they were hit by an officer’s bike. Volunteer medics quickly responded, though with the crowd cleared, officers quickly escorted the bus toward the county jail, about two miles away.

Some protesters arrested on Monday are students, the Tribune confirmed, but it is not clear how many. In Texas, it is legal for non-students to protest on a public campus in all common outdoor areas as long as their activities are lawful and don’t disrupt the normal functions of the campus.

In a late Friday statement, the university said that many of the protesters who erected the encampment were believed to not be affiliated with UT. The statement said that protesters were “physically and verbally combative with the Dean of Students’ staff,” and in response the university called for assistance from DPS.

In an email to students, UT administrators said disruption of this type will not be tolerated on campus. “Safety and security are a top priority of the University,” it read.

Texas department of Public Safety troopers surround a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Credit: Julius Shieh for The Texas Tribune)

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper stands between a pro-Palestinian encampment and other onlookers on the UT-Austin campus. (Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott, who deployed DPS to UT-Austin last week, chimed in on Monday to applaud the resumption of arrests. On X, he reposted a video of officers wearing face shields spreading across campus.

Last week, at least 57 people were arrested for criminal trespassing. All of those charges were dropped. Among those arrested was a photojournalist for FOX 7 in Austin, who spent Wednesday night in jail. The photographer, Carlos Sanchez, was issued a warrant for his arrest on a felony charge of assaulting a peace officer. DPS claims Sanchez hit a trooper with his camera while he was livestreaming the protest.

In a Monday statement, the Society of Professional Journalists condemned the arrest and asked that the charges be dropped.

"This is such a dangerous escalation by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and it feels like the agency is trying to send a message to journalists across the state who are covering this highly publicized and developing story," SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins said.

Late in the afternoon, protestors re-establish a pro-Palestine encampment on the University of Texas-Austin main lawn, utilizing barricades used by police earlier that day. (Credit: Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune)

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