Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) mentioned that the pro-Palestine protestors at the University of Texas at Austin should be in jail, and arrests were happening.
Arrests are ongoing and will keep happening until the crowd leaves. These protesters should be in jail, Abbott wrote on the social platform X.
Texas state police have taken into custody at least four protestors Wednesday at the UT Austin campus after hundreds of students walked out of classes and began a sit-in to support civilians in Gaza.
The university had prepared for the protests that started midday, with the office of student affairs sending out a statement that warned students there would be consequences for participating in the protest.
Abbott said students who participate in the “hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”
It was not immediately clear if there had been antisemitic chants at the University of Texas demonstrations.
The UT Austin protests are similar to protests on many other college campuses. Tensions have escalated in New York City, where over 100 students have been arrested at Columbia University for setting up encampments on school property and protesting.
Campus protests throughout the country have often involved Jewish students, some of whom have resisted suggestions of antisemitism. Near Columbia University in New York, there have been videos showing Jewish students being told to go back to Poland and pro-Hamas chants. However, some of those incidents have also been attributed to nonstudent demonstrators.
Students are upset about their First Amendment right to peacefully protest being restricted by university officials. In 2019, Abbott signed a bill that would safeguard free speech on college campuses in Texas.
“Shouldn’t have to do it. First Amendment guarantees it,” he said in a video after he signed the bill. “Now, it’s law in Texas.”
The Hill has reached out to Abbott’s office for further comment.