UT Austin protests: 45 of 79 arrested on Monday not affiliated with school

AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas says more than half of the protesters arrested during demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war at the Austin campus on Monday were not from the school.

There were no arrests made Tuesday at a peaceful, low-key gathering on UT Austin's south lawn. No attempts were made to occupy any part of the campus.

It stands in stark contrast to Monday when police and state troopers made 79 arrests. Sixty-five of those were for criminal trespass.

The university says 34 of the 79 arrested were students, while 45 of the people arrested were not affiliated with UT. None of the people arrested for UT faculty or staff.

"These numbers validate our concern that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people from outside the University, including groups with ties to escalating protests at other universities around the country. To date, from protesters, weapons have been confiscated in the form of guns, buckets of large rocks, bricks, steel-enforced wood planks, mallets, and chains," said the University of Texas in a statement on Tuesday.

The university says staff have been assaulted and threatened.

 "Police have been headbutted and hit with horse excrement, while their police cars have had tires slashed with knives. This is calculated, intentional and, we believe, orchestrated, and led by those outside our university community," said the school.

Travis County Attorney Delia Garza says the arrests have put a strain on the justice system.

"It's just unsustainable. It's unsustainable for on low-level criminal trespass charges for us to keep cycling through the criminal justice system when I don't think it's helping the current situation," she said.

Last week, Garza's office in Austin dismissed all cases. She says, for now, none of the cases brought this week have been dismissed, adding there needs to be a balance between university concerns and the right for people to have their voices heard.

She also said it is not the role of the justice system to arrest people because of what might happen.

"Nor is it the role to assist our governor in efforts to suppress non-violent and peaceful demonstrations," said Garza. 

Ken Paulson, the director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, spoke to FOX 4 about the situation in Austin.

"No one is being arrested for their speech because they can't be arrested for their speech. One of the puzzling things about your governor's actions is that he spoke out and said you shouldn't allow people to say antisemitic things, and they should be kicked off campus," he said.

READ MORE: UT Austin Palestine rally: Greg Abbott says 'protesters belong in jail'

"The University can restrict the time protests take place, decide where they are going to be and tell people they can't have tents, yet still give people an opportunity to protest and that's the balance that has been so difficult to strike in Texas," Paulson continued. "You cannot punish students even if you think they're misguided for saying hateful things."

The county attorney is using her bully pulpit to challenge UT Austin to extend an olive branch to pro-Palestinian protesters and for protest organizers to accept it.

"To be leaders in this community by initiating a compromise with protest organizers with fair and reasonable free speech parameters and I encourage the organizers to come to the table in good faith so that they can be heard," said Garza.

The county attorney took issue with the response by UT’s administration and law enforcement to protests, although she didn't differentiate between rallies and attempts to occupy the campus.

"While we understand the safety concerns of the university, continuing to send protesters to jail on criminal trespass charges — one of the lowest level, non-violent crimes our office is presented with — is putting a tremendous strain on our criminal justice resources," she said.

Garza says she is also concerned about how what we've seen could escalate if people believe they're being prevented from exercising their right to participate in non-violent protests.

As of yet, there has been no response from Gov. Greg Abbott to Garza's comments.

Another campus action is planned for Wednesday.