DI: You guys have been out here for a few hours. Is there a reason why the tents are coming up now?

Spokesperson for SJP: Yeah, so we were avoiding police confrontation. We wanted to put up our tents. We’re making a statement. We don’t want to leave until divestment. The admins can try to, you know, trick us into bogus deals but we’re not stupid. We know what they’re doing. So, we decided to come back out today. Come back even stronger with more resources. The decision of us putting the tents up a little later. Was just because we were waiting out like depletions in some sense we felt like their presence was near. We waited it out until we had the most people while, you know, a good ratio of the people while also knowing that the police are not there.

DI: What difference do the tents typically make?

Spokesperson for SJP: The encampment is meant to be like a sit-in to some extent. So we don’t leave we sleep there also is a representation of like the genocide in Gaza right now. They’ve been moved to this now refugee camp called Rafah, and they’re all evacuated from their homes because their homes were either bombed, or they were displaced. And now over, I don’t know the number of steps ahead, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are forced to live in tents in Rafah. It’s been like this for the past countless months and they can’t leave so we want to show our solidarity with them.

DI: Vice Chancellor Jim Higgins has been coming around with the megaphone, telling protesters that it’s fine for them to protest. But when they set up tents, that’s when it does violate policy. Do you have a response to that, and have there been negotiations with the administration? 

Spokesperson for SJP: Yeah. So there’s been some negotiations, but what I will say is that the place that we were told to relocate to our condition was that there was zero police presence. When we arrived there today, we noticed that there was a police surveillance camera that also grabs information off of your phones. When we tried to have a conversation with Jim Henson about it, he acted like he didn’t know what’s going on. We know that the Administration does not have our safety in mind or they don’t care about what we want. 

DI: How long do you anticipate this encampment lasting?

Spokesperson for SJP: We’re not leaving again. We’re not leaving until the administration meets our demands. They can keep on taking away their tents, they can do whatever they want. We’re gonna come back stronger every single time. We’re bringing more tents, and we’re not leaving until we get a divestment.

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**This has been edited for clarity.**

The Daily Illini: Why did nothing happen yesterday and why today?

Protestor: Yesterday, the admin immediately deployed all forms of police. They sent UIPD, Champaign County, Urbana, Mohamet and Parkland College police here. They forced Facilities & Services to remove all our stuff even when they didn’t want to, they did not feel comfortable, and they thought we were allowed to be there. Campus Faculty Association released a statement, they said they fully condemned the University’s actions of trying to remove us. We have a lot of faculty here to support us — they felt like what the police did was so disgusting over some tents.

DI: Are you referring to yesterday at Spurlock or Friday at Alma Mater?

Protestor: On Friday, at Alma Mater. No one went to Spurlock.

DI: Why is that? Do you know?

Protestor: The University Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine will be putting out a statement with a lot more detail which will give you a lot more detail as to why we are sticking around here.

DI: You guys are meeting with the administration tomorrow at 5 p.m.?

Protestor: Some student organizers are meeting tomorrow to talk about divestment. I don’t know if you guys know this, but this University puts hundreds of millions of dollars into murdering children. They use our tuition money and they lie about it, and when we ask them and confront them, “Why are you funding this genocide? Why are you funding an illegal occupation?” These settlers tell us, “No, we are not in control of it. The University of Illinois Foundation is,” and “No, BOT is.” The BOT is comprised of admin Chancellor Robert Jones and President Tim Killeen. They’re just so wishy-washy, so back-and-forth, and we’re tired of it.

It has been almost eight months of an ongoing genocide that has been broadcasted in 4k. There is nothing that the admin can say, or any Zionist can say, that shows that the University shouldn’t stop funding this genocide. It’s completely disgusting and we are fed up with it.

DI: How long do you plan on staying out today?

Protestor: As long as we need to.

DI: Is there a reason behind the location change from Alma Mater to the Main Quad?

Protestor: Yes, for expansion. If we need to expand, it is much safer to be here. Usually, they threaten us with mass arrests and tear gassing, so we are hoping this area will keep us protesters safe because, clearly, the admin does not care about us. It was Tim Killeen who was pushing to mass arrest us right away. We have no support from the admin, they can lie and say that they care about our students, but police were assaulting other student protesters. We have it on video, we care about one another. I hope it shows you that there are a lot of messed up issues within UIPD, they need to be defunded. Our main point is divestment and to keep all eyes on Gaza because Israel is trying to invade. Over a million people have been displaced, like 1.3 million displaced Palestinians, and we need to protect them.

DI: There’s a charter bus out there, did people bus in?

Protestor: Chicago allies, many came out. Minimum of 50, possibly more. There are a lot of people mobilizing, like ISU. The bigger the crowd, the safer we are.

DI: On Friday, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Jim Hintz, negotiated with some protestors. Could you give us insight on that?

Protestor: It was not a negotiation, it was more of a, “You have to either leave and disperse, or we will mass arrest everyone and spray tear gas.” As negotiators, we wanted to do what we felt was most safe for all the protestors, which was to disperse and reconvene with a stronger newer plan. So yeah, they can say we agreed it was negotiations we have countless times when admin has gone back on their word when they have blatantly lied to us. They sent out three Massmails about the Palestinians, about the genocide — they tell us they’re pointless, they’re useless, it doesn’t matter. I would like to add that during the negotiations, the chancellor sent out a Massmail, purposely endangering the students. So it was not a negotiation. It was more like them commanding us to do stuff. It was pouring heavy rain. We still have 100 to 200 people out there ready to stand for this.

This has been going on for far too long. It’s disgusting. We are all complicit. We need to speak up right now. If not now, then when? I think it’s very important for you to realize Israel is getting away with this. What are they going to do next? The whole world is at risk right now. If designers stay, if they are allowed to do what they have done to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza for the past eight months, and no one has said anything, no one has lifted a finger, what are they going to do to the rest of the world? Who’s going to stop them?

DI: We did speak with the vice president for Illini Students Supporting Israel, and also the rabbi. One of the things they mentioned was the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” which they believe to be anti-Semitic. Could you speak on that?

Protestor: The chant has been used for the past 75 years. It means from the Dead Sea to the river, Palestine will be free. This means Palestinians can rightfully return to their homes, can walk freely through Palestine without checkpoints, they aren’t detained for the dumbest things that aren’t shown in broad daylight. They aren’t kidnapped, and their homes aren’t raided. There allowed to go pray at the mosque without getting beaten.

I’m Palestinian, my grandparents were kicked out in 1948 during the catastrophe, and I have not been able to return. It is because of the of the laws that Israel has. And even if you have done things properly, they still can detain you and prevent you from entering Palestine. Just the freedom of people being able to freely move throughout their own homelands is not anti-Semitic. Recently, they have been trying to spew anti-Semitism because people have realized that the anti-Semitism argument is so false. There are so many Jews here, we are going to hold Shabbat prayer here today. There are so many Jews in support of Palestine and a free Palestine. 

DI: Do you know what time the Shabbat prayer will be held here?

Protestor: I’m not 100% sure, there is a committee that is organizing all the plans and agenda for the day.

DI: Do you plan on putting up structures once again, like in front of Alma Mater, or are you going to stay away from that? 

Protestor: That is to be determined.

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