Travis County Attorney drops charges against 79 more UT-Austin protesters

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Criminal charges were dropped against 79 people arrested at a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 29. Travis County Attorney Delia Garza announced the charges would be dismissed at a press conference on Wednesday.

The protesters were charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor. Although the arrests met the initial requirements for probable cause, the County Attorney’s Office could not meet their legal burden to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt, Garza said.

There are still a number of other cases with more serious charges related to the April 29 arrests which are still under review, Garza said.

The April 29 arrests were the result of the second police crackdown on pro-Palestine demonstrations at UT-Austin. The first protest, on April 24, resulted in 57 arrests, most of whom were also charged with criminal trespass. Those charges, however, were quickly dismissed because law enforcement lacked probable cause, Garza said.

The police crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests on April 24 and April 29 at the University of Texas at Austin are part of a larger wave of law enforcement and university administrators responding to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across the country. Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders lauded the arrests, calling the protests “hate-filled and anti-semitic.” Abbott ordered the Department of Public Safety to help UT-Austin police crack down on the protests.

“The decisions that were made in response to these protests continue to show, as I’ve said before, the severe lack of leadership we expect from our leaders, as they continue to prioritize extreme government overreach over actual public safety,” Garza said.

Free speech advocates have criticized state GOP leaders, who supported the crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests despite having pushed legislation to protect free speech on college campuses a few years ago. In May 2019, Abbott signed Senate Bill 18, which required public colleges and universities to come up with more uniform policies for free speech and create disciplinary sanctions for students who interfered with the free speech of others. The legislation emerged amid some lawmakers’ concerns that conservative voices were being limited on Texas campuses.

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