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Editor’s note: Several days after this story published, one person arrested on campus on April 29 received a felony charge of carrying a handgun in a prohibited place. Police said the man, a 26-year-old non-student who was identified as a “protester,” was carrying a gun without a license. In Texas, it’s legal to carry a handgun without a license, but not on college campuses. Read more about the arrest here.
Despite University of Texas at Austin officials’ claims about weapons and assaults at the recent campus protests, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza says her office hasn’t seen a single charge.
UT-Austin said Tuesday night that pro-Palestinian groups with ties to “escalating protests” across the country brought weapons and assaulted people during the rallies.
On Wednesday, Garza told KUT the university’s statement — and its insistence that demonstrators had “guns, buckets of large rocks, bricks, steel-enforced wood planks, mallets and chains” — was “interesting.”
“It’s concerning … we work in the world of evidence and facts, and we have not seen a single weapons charge or an assault charge,” she said.
Garza, whose office prosecutes misdemeanors, said she has called on UT Austin to reexamine its policy of arresting protesters for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor similar to loitering — because it is currently “unsustainable.” The protests have led to nearly 140 arrests for misdemeanors.
People are legally allowed to carry a weapon on the UT-Austin campus. However, if they’re committing a crime, like criminal trespassing, they could be arrested for unlawful carrying of a weapon, a misdemeanor.
Garza said after reading UT-Austin’s statement Tuesday, she expected to see some of that reflected in arrest affidavits from the University of Texas Police Department, the arresting agency. She didn’t.
“I don’t know why they are saying that,” she said.
Student protest and Israel-Hammas war
What are students protesting about?
Students at universities across Texas are protesting in solidarity with Palestinians, while pressuring their schools to divest from companies that are tied to Israel or weapons manufacturing. Students and groups protesting have pointed out that the investment management company that manages endowment funds for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems, currently supports companies with “military equipment and defense contracts with Israel,” like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.
What do laws say about protesting?
Students can generally peacefully protest, regardless of their viewpoint, but colleges and authorities may enforce some restrictions and criminal laws to maintain peace and order. Protesting is protected by the U.S. and Texas constitutions under freedom of speech and assembly. What is not protected by the constitutions are true threats to harm another person, destruction of property, imminent violence and any unlawful conduct, including civil disobedience like sit-ins or violations of local ordinances and statutes. Learn more about protesting rights here.
How have university and Texas leaders responded?
Students protesting for divestment from Israel at several public universities have been arrested. At the University of Texas at Austin, police and state troopers were sent to disperse a protest in which students said they intended to walk out and occupy the South Lawn on April 24, which resulted in 57 arrests. In a message, UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell defended the actions of police and administrators. Another protest at UT with more than 500 participants resulted in the arrests of 79 people, including students. The university said in a statement that the encampment was not UT affiliated, and that the type of disruption would not be tolerated. At the University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson, students met with university President Richard C. Benson to talk about the group’s demands after holding a 10-hour sit-in. Unsatisfied students later set up encampments. Police arrested 17 protestors, following an earlier university message that stated encampments not permitted under UT System policy. UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife has said divestment is not an option and defended the law enforcement response at UT System campuses. Protests at the University of Houston resulted in two student detainments. A spokesperson of the university said that the encampment and protest was not allowed under state statutes and that the group could continue the protest under UH guidelines Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed support for the arrests at university protests, stating that any students engaging in “antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”
What do I need to know about the Israel-Hammas war?
Israel launched its siege on Gaza after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7. During the attack, Hamas took about 250 people hostage and killed 1,200 Israelis. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 77,000 people wounded, two-thirds of whom were women or children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Hamas is an armed Palestinian militant group that has governed some 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip after violently seizing control of Gaza in 2007 from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. Hamas’ leader said the Oct. 7 attack was a response to Israel’s 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids and attacks and expanded Jewish settlements on occupied lands Palestinians claim for a future state.
There has been one assault charge filed — though not by UTPD. The Texas Department of Public Safety said it formally charged a FOX 7 photojournalist with two misdemeanors, alleging he assaulted a DPS trooper and interfered with public duties. Garza said the journalist was booked and processed Wednesday.
KUT reached out to UT-Austin and the UTPD for comment on the contradiction between the charges filed and the statement, but has not heard back.
The university has taken a hard line against pro-Palestinian demonstrations. President Jay Hartzell, with the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott, called in DPS troopers last week to quell demonstrations on the South Lawn. Ultimately, 57 arrests were made. All the charges were dismissed by Garza’s office.
Another mass arrest took place Monday, with troopers and Austin police clearing an encampment with pepper spray and flash-bang devices. That led to 79 arrests, the Travis County sheriff says. Those cases are more likely to take time to process.
Garza said, on average, her office handles around 85 misdemeanors a day. While she respects the university’s right to keep campus safe, she said, the caseload is straining her staff.
“There’s just a lot that goes into processing every single one of those cases and rightfully so — there needs to be a good, strict process when you’re taking people’s liberty away,” she said. “[But] it slows down everything … when you have so many at the same time.”
Students organizers told KUT on Wednesday they had consented to searches Monday ahead of demonstrations and that the university’s insistence that they have carried weapons is “not happening.”
“We’re complying and letting [police] know that we don’t have anything, and they’re free to look through it,” said an organizer who didn’t feel comfortable giving his name in light of arrests.
The university has not backed down from claims that demonstrators have weapons and are from “outside the community.” It said the majority of those arrested don’t have ties to the school.
The university hasn’t offered proof of that statement, and arrest records to confirm that weren’t publicly available as of Thursday.
Another on-campus demonstration is planned for Sunday.
Disclosure: University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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