Solidarity with Students at the University of Texas in Austin! – Drop All of the Charges NOW!

Palestine Solidarity Committee – Austin, Texas

AUSTIN: CALLING OUR COMMUNITY: DEMAND THE RELEASE OF ARRESTED AUSTIN PROTESTERS!

Statement from April 24, 2024: Today, the University of Texas at Austin administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the arrest of over 50 UT Austin students and community members by state troopers. Through this unprecedented act of repression they have made it explicitly clear: advocating against a genocide is criminal in Austin!

Protesters were demanding 1) an end to the brutal genocide of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, 2) the divestment of university funds from the systems of power that are directly responsible and culpable for the brutal slaughter of Palestinian men, women, and children, and 3) the adoption of clearer investment practices by our university. The protests which were initially meant to just be a walkout and demonstration were almost immediately met with mass violent arrest by UTPD, state troopers, and officers in riot gear. This horrific act of violent repression by UT Austin is a very clear violation of our first amendment rights—which UT falsely boasts to proudly protect.

Jay Hartzell, Greg Abbott, and our local and university officials have made it clear that they DO NOT care about the principles of free speech they so proudly uplift at every given opportunity and they especially don’t care about any of their students, let alone their Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.

We uplift the call by our faculty to continue to protest in the face of oppression! We call on our community to resist the draconian tactics of intimidation employed by our university and to reaffirm our demands tomorrow:

TOMORROW, APRIL 25, 2024