And it was a similar situation yesterday at USF.
Police were forced to use tear gas to break up
the crowd,
and several people were arrested.
The people who organized the event say it started as
a peaceful protest.
Now, Regina Gonzalez is live at USF right now,
with the very latest on where we are this morning.
Hi, Regina.
Hey, good morning, guys. Yeah,
we know that after numerous warnings from law enforcement that
some pro Palestinian protesters that had been camped out for
most of the afternoon yesterday in MLK Plaza here on
campus, they refused to leave by a 5:00 PM deadline
given by the university.
And that's when police ended up moving in and arresting
10 people.
Now, it's not known right now of who was arrested,
who was a student and who wasn't.
But based on jail booking information for Hillsboro County,
we were able to see that 39 year old Atta
Kiir Othman on your screens was the one demonstrator arrested
with a gun on him.
He's facing 4 charges including trespassing,
unlawful assembly, possession of a firearm on school property and
resisting an officer.
He was released at midnight on bond.
Now, USF said about 75 to 100 protesters,
including some not affiliated with the university,
arrived on campus yesterday morning with items like wooden Shields,
umbrellas and tents. School officials and security were in constant
communication with them and gave them until five in the
evening to be cleared off the property.
Police were actually heard giving demonstrators several orders to disperse
over a loudspeaker around
5:10, declaring the protest and unlawful assembly,
and notifying students that they would be placed under arrest
for refusing to leave.
About 10 minutes later, amid protesters cries to hold the
line,
police deployed by tear gas and a majority of the
people ran off.
Victoria Hinckley was one of the organizers of yesterday's demonstration.
She told us their actions were peaceful up until that
point,
and she doesn't understand why people got arrested.
There were faculty members, there were,
you know, professors, community members,
students that all came out to support us.
So, you know, in my view,
it was pretty peaceful. We weren't doing anything to escalate
the police to,
you know, come at us with such force and such
violence.
Now, according to the USF police chief,
order was restored and the area was cleared around 6:00
PM.
Meanwhile, late last night, Victoria and others showed up at
the Hillsborough County Jail to demand that fellow students be
released and they tried to bail out who they could.
USF did end up releasing an official statement after the
chaos come down.
They said, quote, the University of South Florida values the
right to free speech and protecting the constitutional right for
individuals and groups on campus to express themselves.
However, the expression of free speech must remain peaceful and
not violate the law or USF policies.
The university has been clear that violence,
threats, harassment and disruptions will not be tolerated.
Now we've driven around for most of the morning.
All is pretty quiet on campus at this point.
We do know that if people do plan on protesting
again today on USF campus that that 5:00 PM deadline
will apply.
That's the last possible time that you have to be
cleared off the property before you could face consequences.
Guys, back to you.
Thank you.