About two dozen protesters demanding that UGA denounce Israel’s invasion of Gaza set up a camp on North Campus Monday morning that police quickly dismantled.
Sixteen people were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing, according to organizers Students for Justice in Palestine, which posted video of the arrests on Instagram.
Members of the UGA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine began to set up tents outside President Jere Morehead’s office before 7 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., administrators were telling the protesters to disperse or be arrested. Joined by state troopers, campus police then began to dismantle tents, and to physically disentangle protesters who had locked arms, place them in zip ties and lead them away.
UGA’s speech policy prohibits camping, blocking sidewalks or ingress and egress from buildings, and using amplified sound. At least one protester had a megaphone.
“Let us make it abundantly clear that while the University of Georgia staunchly supports freedom of expression, we will not cede control of our campus to groups that refuse to abide by University policy and threaten the safety of those who live, work and study here,” Morehead and other top administrators said in an Archnews message to students, faculty and staff. “The University of Georgia remains an institution where ideas, viewpoints and scholarship can be openly expressed and debated.”
At the “liberation zone,” protesters chanted slogans like, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest,” referring to demands that the university disclose donors’ ties to Israel and stop investing endowment funds in Israeli companies. Those have been common demands of pro-Palestine groups on campuses across the country.
“Our universities have chosen profit over the lives of the Palestinian people and the overwhelming
force of student opinion,” SJP said in a news release. “Our administrators are more concerned with maintaining their prestigious reputations than the Israeli occupation’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinians. Their supposed power is nothing compared to the united strength of students, faculty and staff committed to realizing justice and upholding Palestinian liberation on campus.”
This afternoon, about 100 protesters returned to North Campus, this time with no tents or megaphones. No police officers were present. However, organizers said they planned to stay until at least 9 p.m., when there is a chance they could be arrested for trespassing.
Today was the last day of classes at UGA, with finals scheduled to start on Wednesday.
SJP and related groups have been holding demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire since shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, both on campus and at Athens City Hall.
Over the past couple of weeks, colleges and universities have started to move in on similar encampments across the country, with more than 200 students arrested on Saturday alone, according to the New York Times. Last Thursday, police arrested 20 Emory University students and eight others at a pro-Palestine encampment on the Atlanta campus.
Also Monday, protesters gathered at Indiana University to demand the resignation of president Pamela Whitten, a former UGA provost, over the clearing of pro-Palestinian encampments and the arrests of protesters.
Chris Dowd contributed to this report.
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