Approximately 25 University of Georgia students and Athens community members set up camp on the Old College front lawn at North Campus early on Monday morning to demonstrate in support of Palestine, joining many other college campuses around the nation.
According to UGA policy, university community members are legally allowed to demonstrate in both designated free speech zones on campus and any outdoor, publicly accessible area of campus. These zones include the Tate Student Center Plaza, Memorial Hall and the lawn in front of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center. However, the policy states that camping and tenting on campus is not permitted.
At approximately 6:45 a.m., there were two UGA police officers at the beginning of the encampment who asked the demonstrators to remove the barricade and tents that were set up.
UGA students organized the demonstration, demanding “solidarity, disclosure, protection and divestment,” from the university. They arrived around 6 a.m. and officially set up tents around 7 a.m.
“We're out here in numbers, and we expect more and more people to join — and, this is something that genuinely is historic and people will talk about,” Abdulla Warrayat, a senior mechanical engineering major at UGA, said. “We’re ready to react and make sure that we’re taking everyone’s security and safety into mind.”
Students from the University of Georgia and Athens community members set up encampments at the lawn outside of Old College in Athens, Georgia, on Monday, April 29, 2024. They are demonstrating in support of Palestine, and join hundreds of college students across the United States in a nationwide movement. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Previously UGA Students for Justice in Palestine shared a letter of commitment and solidarity to the Palestinian people and student movements across the nation.
There have been more than 800 arrests on college campuses across the nation since April 18, which is when the New York Police Department cleared an encampment demonstration at Columbia University, according to the New York Times. In most cases, several of those arrested were released, the Times reported.
Georgia State Patrol, Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Emory Police Department (EPD) officers arrested 28 individuals at the Emory University campus located in Atlanta on Thursday, April 25, according to The Emory Wheel. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp responded to the Emory University demonstration by thanking law enforcement for “restoring order.”
“Just as we have always done in the past, we will respect the right to peacefully protest, but those who choose to make the unwise decision to use our college campuses to intimidate, make threats, promote violence or in any other way break the law will be met with the full force of the law and brought to justice,” Kemp said in the statement.
