A fighter jet boomed overhead on a hot, cloudless afternoon as a dozen shade tents stood as temporary shelter for about 75 pro-Palestinian protesters on University of Arizona’s campus mall. The tents are part of what one protester called the “UA liberated zone,” where students, staff and community members gathered in support of Palestinian rights.
Protesters told Arizona Luminaria that earlier Monday UA campus police said they must remove their camping tents. Organizers said they decided to dismantle the tents as a deescalation tactic. But organizers were bracing for more standoffs as the deadline to clear the mall, at 10:30 p.m., loomed.
Muna Hijazi of the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance is one of the protest organizers. She is Palestinian-American and has lived in Tucson since 2020. She works with Palestinian students on campus and has been affiliated with UA’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
“Students are here answering the call from Gazans we know,” Hijazi said. She said they have received hundreds if not thousands of calls from Gazans to escalate protests both on and off campuses.
“We love our peers from Columbia University and we’re inspired by our ASU peers, but we’re not here for them,” Hijazi said. “We’re here in solidarity with the Gazans.”
The Tucson encampment comes after campuses across the country — at Columbia University in New York, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and elsewhere — have witnessed escalating tension as increasingly vocal calls to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have been met with mass arrests and aggressive police tactics against students, faculty and news media reporting on the protests.
Arizona Luminaria asked UA communications officials whether the campus mall closes during certain hours, if that’s the case, what are those hours and where the UA policy is published for the public’s awareness. A reporter also asked if campus police routinely enforce removing students from the mall, whether police have previously arrested students for not leaving the mall area, why such a policy exists and UA’s stance on the protest movement.
A UA spokesperson warned of arrests in an emailed statement.
“The University of Arizona is committed to respecting and protecting the free speech rights of our students and the university. We are monitoring today’s event and are engaging in active conversations with the participants. University policy provides that non-academic activity on the mall and across the campus must conclude by 10:30 p.m. The university expects students, staff, and campus visitors to adhere to university policies. Those who do not disperse when requested will be subject to arrest.”
The University of Arizona Police Department emailed the same statement in response to Arizona Luminaria asking if people will be arrested if they stay at the mall and how police plan to ensure the safety of students and others if arrests do take place.
The UA policy outlines nighttime use of facilities, stating that “in order to protect public health and safety, no part of the campus, including the Mall and Park Student Union outdoor space, is generally available for organized activities after 10:30 p.m. and before 7:00 a.m., except for Official University Activities or Authorized Activities.”
The Israel-Hamas war led the International Court of Justice at the United Nations to hear accusations of genocide in January.
The protests across the country come more than six months into the war, prompted by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The Hamas attacks left more than 1,200 people dead, as well as more than 250 people kidnapped. As of April 22, more than 34,000 people, including an estimated 23,000 women and children, have been killed in Gaza, according to statistics tracked by the United Nations.
Last week, the Arizona chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine staged a protest on the UA campus. Steve Patterson, UA’s interim chief safety officer, issued a statement remarking on the campus community’s safety concerns given the “passionate and divergent beliefs held by many on this topic.”
“As a public institution, we must uphold the right to free expression, which is afforded to all members of our community and student groups,” he said. “At the same time, I want to reiterate our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment.”
There were no reported arrests at last week’s UA protests.
Several protesters were arrested, however, at pro-Palestinian events on the campus of Arizona State University. Late Friday night, after vowing to remain on campus despite rules against encampments, police cleared about 50 protesters, made several arrests, and barricaded Alumni Lawn.
According to a database from The Appeal, at least 600 people protesting on college campuses have been arrested since the beginning of April. After this weekend, the New York Times put that number at more than 800.
Demands for disclosure and declaration
At about mid-afternoon Monday, as protesters on the UA mall began to chant “Free, free, free Palestine!” and “Palestine you’re not alone!” to the beat of a drum, a few counter-protesters draped in Israeli flags shouted “Free the hostages!” The students and community members were gathered near a series of party tents for Senior Design Day, where engineering students exhibit their final projects.
River, one of the protest’s organizers, declined to give their last name because “it’s important that no one specific person or organization speaks for the movement.”
“Essentially, it’s a collective action by the people of Tucson,” River said. “But you can call us “students against apartheid.”
River spelled out the group’s demands. Those include a disclosure of all UA ties to Israel; the disclosure of all funding and investments in Israel or in companies that work in Israel, including faculty members who work with companies like Raytheon (also known as RTX Corporation) or Elbit Systems (two surveillance and arms manufacturing companies that work with the Israeli government); the dismissal of all faculty members who have direct ties to the ethnic cleansing in Gaza; and a declaration against “the genocide and ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.
Another demand is a university declaration for an immediate ceasefire.
Hijazi said that the group’s demands, presence and goals were not antisemitic. “Being opposed to Zionism is not at all in opposition to Judaism.” She said Judaism is a “beautiful religion.”
Zionism is the movement for the development and protection of a Jewish state, which became Israel. Palestinians have long fought for Israel to leave the land, calling Israeli people occupiers.
“The natural state of the human being is to be free,” Hijazi said.. “We know that will be a reality, that the people of Palestine will be free, and that we will live to see that reality.”
But, she added, that requires people to stand up for freedom.
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