All pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at UT released from jail nearly two days later

All 79 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested on Monday at the University of Texas have been released as of Wednesday afternoon, nearly two days after the first arrest was made.

Kristen Dark, public information officer for the Travis County sheriff's office, confirmed to the American-Statesman that everyone arrested had been released by about 1 p.m.

The arrests came after protesters set up an encampment on the university's South Mall, which was in defiance of UT's policies and prompted the intervention of university, state and local police, according to university spokesperson Brian Davis.

Seventy-eight of the protesters arrested were charged with criminal trespassing, with one person receiving an additional charge of obstructing a highway, Dark previously said. One of the protesters was charged with interfering with public duties.

Unlike last week, deficiencies were not found in the probable cause arrest affidavits, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said Tuesday. The large influx of arrests has put a strain on her office, she said.

After the protest on April 24, Garza declined to press charges on any of the 57 people arrested because the affidavits, which law enforcement file to justify an arrest, did not show probable cause for the arrests.

Lawyers said last week the affidavits were essentially "copied and pasted" and lacked vital information to justify an arrest. That wasn't the case this week when University of Texas police turned in affidavits that did not have those same deficiencies.

The Statesman reached out to Garza's office on Wednesday to see if her office had made its way through the paperwork but did not immediately hear back.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Last of UT pro-Palestinian protesters released from jail on Wednesday