New Round of Arrests at University of Texas as Protesters Defy Governor

Days after a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, at least 50 people were arrested after new tents were erected on the Austin campus.

Police officers from the University of Texas at Austin and state troopers in riot gear swept in on Monday to clear a small number of tents erected on campus by pro-Palestinian protesters, arresting dozens of people and briefly deploying pepper spray against demonstrators who were chanting “Off our campus!” and trying to block law enforcement vehicles.

Officers cleared the small encampment within three hours, arresting about 50 people, but then found themselves confronting an even larger crowd near the edge of the university’s central mall, where the tents had been erected.

After a brief standoff, the police backed up and allowed the crowd to pass back onto the mall. Some students returned to the spot where the short-lived encampment had been reduced to a tangled pile of tarps, trash and folding tables.

The encampment and subsequent eruption of support from a large number of students was a direct challenge to both university leaders and Gov. Greg Abbott who last week moved swiftly to stamp out a much larger gathering at the state’s flagship university, a crackdown that led to more than 50 arrests.

Monday’s operation doubled that number, after officers formed a cordon around the encampment and moved in. Around them, a large number of students and onlookers chanted in support of the protesters. Those who were arrested could be seen resisting the police by going limp or pulling against officers who tried to dismantle the encampment.

“No encampments will be allowed,” Mr. Abbott wrote in a statement after the arrests had begun. “Instead, arrests are being made.”