**Many attendees, community members and organizers have elected not to be identified by name for safety reasons. Quotes published in this article were heard spoken at the event, with no attribution as a safety precaution.**
University students gathered between Alma Mater and the Illini Union on Friday morning to form an encampment as a part of their effort to call for the University to divest from weapons manufacturers for Israel. Protestors and organizers arrived at 5 a.m.
“Admin admin you’re all cowards; students have all the power,” the group chanted.
Students came in facial masks and dressed for the weather. They stood in a circular formation surrounding the encampment, with a pile of resources including food, water, blankets and other camping gear.
The University took down the Alma Cam and the Quad Cam before 8:00 a.m.
“Disclose, divest. We will not stop; we will not rest,” the group chanted.
UIPD officers and a truck from University Facilities & Services were present throughout the beginning of the encampment.
A student group member was heard calling for protesting students to stay standing with their arms linked as officers began to converse with the students.
At 8:22 a.m., an officer was heard ordering the students to “make a lane” toward the encampment. Officers then resorted to physical force and dragging off one student as the group continued to chant, “Free, free Palestine.”
“He’s done nothing!” An attendee yelled at officers as they forcibly removed the student.
“Why are you pushing him? Why are you grabbing him?”
A student leader instructed the group to not pack up the camp as UIPD and Facilities & Services employees began tearing down the encampment. Students kept their arms linked and continued to form a tighter circle.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you do not separate, you will be subject to trespassing,” an officer called out as Facilities & Services continued to remove tents.
“Alright, who wants to go — who wants to go to jail?” one officer was heard yelling at the student protesters.
Officers arrested one student at the event.
The protesters repeatedly called “Free, free Palestine” as officers and Facilities & Services members continued to remove banners and tents. Officers twisted protesters’ arms and used physical force to access the encampment.
“This is brutality,” a protester with a megaphone called out to the officers. “We have every right to be here! Every single right!”
Students began chants of “Whose campus? Our campus!” as officers removed the final structures within the encampment.
Officers and Facilities & Services staff members left the scene just after 8:30 a.m., leaving students in a tight-knit circle around the remainder of the resources. A student did a lap around the circle writing the Champaign County jail inmate support number on the arms of protestors as a precaution.
Police presence was completely gone from the scene at 8:41 a.m., with protesters breaking their circle to eat and rest shortly after.
As of 9:00 a.m., student protesters remained in a group eating food and drinking water by the Alma Mater statue. Two protestors mounted a banner reading “30,000 KILLED; 2 MIL STARVING; STOP $$$ WAR”
