The Palestine Solidarity Committee, a registered student team on the school and a section of the regional Students for Justice in Palestine, has been suspended by the University of Texas at Austin. Following a number of campus protests last year, which resulted in nearly 60 folks being detained for criminal trespass, this action comes as a result. The arrests took place on Wednesday after law enforcement purchases to separate and leave the school ‘ central tower region were ignored.
The school had notified the business that it was being suspended, so the team posted a message on Facebook encouraging supporters to call the management and require restoration on Friday.
FACEBOOK: the Palestine Solidarity Committee
The group appears to deliberately write the” P” in Palestine in uppercase in the lengthy Facebook post, while the” I” in Israel is written in lowercase. The text reads:
The suspension of the Palestine Solidarity Committee by UT is an assault on free conversation intended to detract from and support Israel’s homicidal campaign against the Palestinians!
Palestinians continue to live in a state of emergency that UT refuses to acknowledge, despite Jay Hartzell and Greg Abbot’s authorization for Texas State Troopers, Austin Police, and UT authorities to fiercely assault and arrest protesters on school. The school has frequently changed opposition policies, been deliberately vague about these changes, and committed to fiercely dispersing protests in their campaign of intimidation and violence of our student figure now that the number of Palestinians killed by egypt has surpassed 34, 000.
This demonstrates UT’s careful repression of pro-Palestinian student organizations in an effort to stop protests against Israel’s extremely terrible attacks. Our disqualification is the most recent example of a routine of censorship, and we recognize UT’s intimidation techniques for what they are. The persecution of our free conversation by UT reinforces a racist myth that values Arab life.
Campus services like ours are working to silence our voices as students from a variety of backgrounds across the nation rise up to defend Arab lives. But we will never be passive. As gaza continues to bomb institutions, colleges, homes and refugee camps while cutting off food and water to more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, it is important that we act, and with urgency. Israeli lives are in danger. The Palestine Solidarity Committee of UT and our friends firmly calls for a ceasefire right away, and they will continue to do so in the name of UT.
On the day of the expulsion, Breitbart Texas attended the protest on Thursday. This writer witnessed the walk-out and opposition organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee on Thursday evening near the college ‘ main mall and the University of Texas Tower. As they walked around the store carrying signs that read” Free Palestine,” some members of the group of about 300 demonstrators waved Arab flags and wore the Egyptian keffiyeh. More than 100 people positioned themselves on the grassy place close to the castle, posing evidence that read” Support YOUR Community, No Cops” on George Washington’s monument.
Pro-Palestine Protest at the University of Texas in Austin. ( Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas )
When questioned about the protest’s function, the pro-Palestine protesters refused to appear in public or pose an identity for themselves. Several of the select few who do take the stage on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction with the detention made during the demonstration. The pro-Israel counter-protesters were much more open and detailed what they encountered at the march on Wednesday.
Pro-Palestine Protest at the University of Texas in Austin. ( Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas )
Oceane Maher, a young girl supporting the Israeli students on campus, carried a sign that read,” Activists threatened to kill us, stole our evidence, told us to go back to Germany, chanted all of Palestine is Muslim, called for an intifada”. Maher claimed to have experienced this first on Wednesday and that the police’s answer had improved the situation on Thursday. Many other pro-Israel students walked among the crowd and carried Jewish flags. They were met by some unkind appearances, and in some cases, a middle finger wave from the protesters pro-Palestine. The conversation did not get real.
Israeli students carry a mark describing what transpired during the University of Texas ‘ pro-Palestine demonstration on the first day. ( Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas )
As reported by Breitbart Texas, Seth Greenwald, a Jewish University of Texas law pupil, said he was spitting on half on the first day of the pro- Palestine march. Greenwald even acknowledged that the police response contributed to a much nicer setting on Thursday. Several arrests were made after the pro-Palestine activists refused to evacuate after attempting to hold a school area similar to that of Colombia University before in the week, according to Breitbart Texas.
Randy Clark / Breitbart Texas
In response to the decision to withdraw Wednesday’s opposition, University of Texas President Jay Hartzell cited recent events at other colleges across the country in a statement released on Thursday. His text read:
Yesterday was evidently a hard, divisive time for our campus. Some campuses like ours are facing similar challenging challenges as the pressure to destroy major colleges spreads across the nation. We are all wrestling with how to balance large, crucial goals, including scholar health, continuity and superiority in teaching and research, and the right to convey one’s views and call for change. I believe that almost all of us agree on each of those objectives, even though we might disagree on how to weigh them in a particular circumstance. The University’s decision to not allow yesterday’s event to go as planned was made because we had credible indications that the event’s organizers, whether national or local, were trying to follow the pattern we see elsewhere, using the apparatus of free speech and expression to severely disrupt a campus for a long period.”
Most of the nearly 100 people who had been detained for trespassing on the campus on Wednesday were released from Travis County Jail by early Thursday. Delia Garza, the attorney for Travis County, dismissed the majority of the criminal cases because she raised concerns about the law enforcement officer’s probable cause of arrest.
In a statement released on Thursday, Garza stated:
Due to yesterday’s demonstration at the University of Texas, the Travis County Attorney’s Office received several cases yesterday and throughout the evening. Legal issues were brought up by the defense attorney. We each reviewed the probable cause affidavits individually and concluded that there were shortcomings in them. The Court granted those individuals ‘ release and ordered their release. We will continue to evaluate each case that is presented to our office individually to determine whether a prosecution is factually and legally appropriate.
Randy Clark , is a 32- year veteran of the United States Border Patrol.  , Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
