Live coverage: SJP calls for reinstated encampment on the Main Quad
Protesters have distributed blankets, water and food and have entered the tents.
There are no negotiations happening currently between University administration and the student leaders.
Our reporters will remain on scene through the night, but will discontinue regular coverage until major updates occur. The live stream will remain active on our Instagram.
*The Daily Illini will update with any and all updates when they happen*
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.**
The Daily Illini: Could you give us a little bit of an update about what’s going on right now?
Spokesperson for SJP: Our encampment was going strong. We had negotiators talking to admins about updates regarding our demands of divestment and there were some issues with that. They wanted us to know there are conditions for a meeting with the president and chancellor. It is that we take down our tent, which obviously we did not want to agree to because it was just them taking the only form of leverage we had in this negotiation. And immediately after we disagreed, we respectfully declined the offer. We got a Massmail — it was basically smearing our name, accusing us of being hard to negotiate with and us denying this offer without any context really.
The meeting with the vice chancellor on Monday that we were promised was threatened to be canceled. We’re not sure about updates regarding that. However, we wanted to continue engaging in discourse. The president and Chancellor Jones told the people we were talking to, like our middle man, that they are free to go home and they took that as their opportunity to leave us.
When we vocalize that we need some form of communication with them because our worry is that they were going to send out police officers on us, they basically said you guys just have to stick through it. It just felt like we were left in such a hard situation. We were just blindsided and it felt like they were just leaving us to fend for ourselves. I tried to find out if arrests were going to happen or anything like that — I didn’t get a straight answer. So yeah, we were kind of just left blindsided.
DI: What are the plans for tonight?
Spokesperson for SJP: Our plans for tonight are just to stick it out. We want to keep going strong, we are going strong. We want to encourage community activities. We also want to encourage discourse around this topic of Palestine. We want this to be an educational encampment where the correct knowledge is being put out.
DI: In the statement from the chancellor, it states that you guys cannot have your tents up and you guys cannot be encamping on campus grounds. How will you react to that if in the middle of the night, something happens?
Spokesperson for SJP: We obviously are keeping our guard up 24/7. In terms of them telling us we can’t keep our tents up, we’re keeping them up until we meet our demands. A divestment from Zionist weapon manufacturers and institutions. We think it’s pretty normal to want our school to not invest in the killing of people. And we think it’s bizarre that they care more about us having tents up than where their money is going. I think it’s just disgusting and it shows how evil the administration is regarding this topic.
Amongst the unrest, Jews for Palestine UIUC have set up a Seder meal— a symbolic assortment of foods traditionally eaten on the first or second night of the Jewish holiday, Passover.
The holiday started on April 22 and ends after nightfall on April 30.
The organization cited the meal’s significance as reasoning for the ceremony.
“Passover is about solidarity with oppressed people everywhere,” said the Jews for Palestine UIUC Instagram in a statement to The Daily Illini.
Members’ demands are in congruence with the messages of fellow protesters.
“We are here to demand the University divest from Zionist weapon manufacturers and institutions, disclose all financial assets, and grant amnesty to all student protesters,” they stated.
The Main Quad has students taking graduation photos while protesters are setting up. Although the protests are highlighted everywhere, campus life is still bustling despite the rise in activity from the protest groups.
**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.
Lincoln Hall is currently closed and locked up, and the Alma Mater and Main Quad cams are still down.
Attendees are currently praying together. Legal observers, part of the National Lawyers Guild, are also present at the scene.
The Daily Illini: Can you tell me what’s going on here?
Protester: We’ve come to reinstill our encampment today, but on the Main Quad to show admin that we will not rest. We will not be pushed all the way to Spurlock, which is essentially off campus.
DI: On Friday, you guys had announced that you would be starting the protest again Saturday morning. Why was it pushed to today?
Protester: We needed time to, first of all, prepare because, obviously, this takes a lot of preparing, and we wanted to ensure the safety of our protesters as well.
DI: So, what’s the hopeful goal for today? What do you want the outcome to be?
Protester: I mean, our goal is to push the school to divest at the end of the day. So, our goal for today is to pressure the University and set up camp.
DI: How many people do you think are going to be showing up today?
Protester: I think that we will be able to mobilize around 400 people.
The official Instagram page of the UIUC Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine posted a graphic on Instagram at 1:07 p.m. calling all protesters to the Main Quad.
The caption of the post states “we need all to mobilize to the Main Quad near Foellinger immediately!!”
