‘Dozens of police’ arrest student protesters at UConn

Police at the University of Connecticut cracked down on student protesters Tuesday morning, arresting those who were part of the “Gaza solidarity encampment”on the Storrs campus. Student organizers reported that 23 protesters were arrested.

Students said that police encircled and dismantled the encampment, established April 24 to demand the university break ties with Israel and divest from companies supporting the country’s war in Gaza that has left tens of thousands of civilians dead since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

The students had remained at the encampment after the university on April 26 issued a statement prohibiting tents on the property and declaring a 24-hour quiet period through the end of the semester.

Stephanie Rietz, spokesperson for the school, issued a statement Tuesday morning saying about 20 tents remained Monday afternoon and the group continued to use “amplified sound,” despite the recently stated university policy. Students had said they would maintain the demonstration until their demands were met.

“The group was warned multiple times over a period of days that while they were free to be in the space and exercise their free speech rights, the guidelines needed to be followed and the tents needed to be taken down. This was ignored,” Reitz said.

“UConn Police directed them four times on Tuesday morning to remove the tents and disperse, and they again repeatedly ignored the directives. Officers then entered the site to remove the tents and tarps, and to arrest those who refused compliance.”

One student, who wished to be identified by only his first name, Chris, said approximately 80 police officers and state troopers encircled the encampment and began arresting demonstrators shortly after 7:30 a.m.

Chris, a junior who served as a “police liaison” for the encampment, said he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. According to Chris, all students received the same charges. He said bond was set at $500 for each charge, totaling $1,000 for each student.

“We kind of were anticipating a raid coming this morning because we heard it was happening at Yale,” Chris said. “We expected that there was statewide coordination on this, which seemed to have been true.”

Students said the police blocked off the entrances and exits to the camp before making arrests.

“Over the megaphone, they told us that we had to disperse or they would arrest us,” said one arrested student, who wished to remain anonymous. “After no one was moving, they started arresting people. First, they arrested the people who were chanting, and then they came up to the tents and they started taking people one by one.”

The student said that she was arrested and zip-tied. Afterward, she said, police brought students to the parking lot and transported them to the station in police vans.

She said the arrested students kept protesting, laughing and singing in the vans and the cells.

“We were having the best time ever,” she said. “The energy is very good.”

Demonstrators who gathered outside of the UConn Police Department to support the arrested said organizers were still deciding whether or not to reestablish an encampment on campus.

UConn Professor Fred Lee said he wants amnesty for the arrested students.

“Students were exercising constitutionally protected rights to free speech. And the general rule of thumb here is that free speech does not end at the schoolhouse gates,” Lee said. “They should not face either legal punishment or disciplinary actions from the university.”

Yale University, where students started an encampment days before UConn’s, also cracked down on protesters, clearing the encampment at Campus Cross and threatening students with arrest and suspension if they stood in the way, according to Yale Daily News.

Photos and videos posted by protesters on social media showed police tape closing off the encampment and the area surrounding Cross Campus.