Dominic Plata
The Palestine Solidarity Committee and Austin Students for a Democratic Society gathered with around 75 people on the UT South Lawn Thursday afternoon to commemorate one year since over 79 pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested on campus during the April 2024 protests.
After PSC’s protest was shut down by UT’s administration, it was announced Wednesday evening that Austin SDS, along with other student organizations, would take control of the protest. At around 5:30 p.m., attendees gathered on the lawn with signs and banners and began to chant.
“We stand on the very same lawn one year later, righteous and with more conviction
in our cause,” said Hadi, a UT student who preferred to be identified by their first name. “To our new and old president, we have a clear message: We are here and we are here to stay until justice and liberation.”
Arshia Papari, a speaker at the protest, called for the university to take responsibility for the treatment of its students this time last year.
“We demand reparations for the students who were brutalized and wrongfully arrested last year, and we demand that the university live up to its moral obligation,” Papari said. “Not tomorrow, not next year, but now.”
Hadi encouraged those in the crowd to remain steadfast in the movement for a free Palestine, even in the face of ongoing campus repression.
“As students, we have been threatened, we have been arrested, and we have been abandoned by the very people who are meant to protect and enrich us,” Hadi said. “With these actions, our institution is hoping to force us into subjugation and conformity, but we will not bow down and we will not conform to a system that supports genocide.”
Though police stood by to supervise the event, no protestors engaged with law enforcement. After the speeches, the crowd dispersed at 7 p.m.