Dozens of UConn students flooded the Storrs campus in a display of solidarity with the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
A large crowd of about 300 pro-Palestinian demonstrators assembled near the Werth Residence Hall on campus Thursday evening. Students promise to be out until their demands are met.
“We're standing in solidarity with them because this has gone on for too long and people like our admin are silent,” said one student, who did not want to share her name amid safety concerns.
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Not long after the demonstration started, organizers shared a video that appears to show police taking apart tents that had been set up and detaining a person.
A UConn spokesperson said the demonstrators were informed of their right to assemble and demonstrate peaceably would be respected, but that they wouldn't be able to put up tents or establish an encampment.
The spokesperson said a graduate student has been arrested. He was charged with one count of interfering with an officer and has been released on a $500 bond.
Students tell us they have four demands including to disclose and divest certain school-related investments, cutting ties with Israeli schools and to stop what they see as the repression of pro-Palestinian students at UConn.
“One of our demands to the university is to sit down and negotiate these demands with them. We have not heard back and they are not willing to hear back from us. So anything that happens to students here in this rally at this encampment will be their responsibility because they are not willing to sit down with us,” UConn senior Muhammad Elsabbal said.
A Pro-Palestinian protest is continuing at Yale University in New Haven after dozens of people were arrested on Monday.
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