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

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas lawmakers and organizations have reacted to the Palestine rally happening at the University of Texas at Austin, including Gov. Greg Abbott.

On Wednesday, April 24, hundreds of students walked out of class at UT Austin to rally for Palestine.

According to DPS, more than 20 arrests have been made by law enforcement.

A FOX 7 Austin photographer was arrested at the protests on UT campus. After the protest line was moved back, our photographer fell, and was then detained and taken to jail.

Social media video showed DPS troopers pulling the photographer backwards and to the ground.

MORE: University of Texas Palestine protest leads to multiple arrests

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reacted to the rally on X (formerly Twitter) saying in part, "these protesters belong in jail."

More reactions on the rally at UT Austin can be found below:

Statement from Roland Gutierrez, Uvalde State Senator:

"The Department of Public Safety has pulled out all the stops to harass innocent college students, but wouldn’t lift a finger to help the victims in the Uvalde massacre. Our broken state moved troopers all the way from Houston to Austin so they could quash students’ first amendment rights.
The very force that you see beating and arresting these college students are the same ones that, for 77 long minutes, stood by as a lone teenage shooter massacred 21 precious lives in an elementary school. We live in a broken state where actual violence is met with fear and trepidation from those meant to protect and serve, and where exercising our rights is seen as a threat.
I am demanding accountability for the actions carried out by DPS at the University of Texas today."

Joint statement from the Texas Conference of AAUP and the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches:

The Texas Conference of AAUP and the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches would like to express alarm at what we have witnessed today at the University of Texas. After a day where students, faculty and staff were denied the right to engage in their desired protests of teach-ins, study sessions and pizza but still engaged in what were apparently peaceful protests from many eye witness accounts, the University has incredibly declared Martial Law. Though we fully respect the need for the campus to maintain security and keep individuals on the campus safe, what we saw today was far beyond that and caused fear and intimidation to many people on the University campus—most of whom were not protestors. Many students were denied the right to walk across the campus by patrols of State police with automatic weapons and many on horseback, while faculty and staff were forced to remain in buildings that were surrounded by State police and other forces. The State Police troops were so intimidating in their appearance and demeanor that many persons were simply afraid to approach them or the lines they formed. At one point they formed circles around liberal arts buildings on the campus. Instead of trying to assist individuals who were afraid, the guard members said they could not talk while they were on duty or declined to talk altogether. There was no University official available to inform people on the campus what they should or should not do, so this created a chaotic situation. The environment on the campus already feels hostile to many faculty, staff and students and this contributed to that feeling. Students, as long as they do so within proper constraints, have a Constitutional right to demonstrate. The protestors today were mainly students and faculty. It seems as though a message was sent today with the intent of silencing any kind of protest in the future, letting future organizers know what is in store for you even if it is a peaceful protest that you are undertaking.

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