One arrested after police disband pro-Palestine encampment at University of Kansas

Campus police arrested one person after disbanding a pro-Palestine protest Tuesday at the University of Kansas.

KU Student Affairs interacted with protesters multiple times in the past week, warning them police would get involved if they didn’t voluntarily remove tents from the KU Palestine Solidarity Encampment, said Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, the university’s director for news and media relations.

Tuesday, campus police took down the tents and arrested one protester who refused to leave his tent, according to a news release from the KU Palestine Solidarity Encampment. The protester has since been released, but has not been publicly identified.

Protesters believe their action falls within the university’s camping policy, which prohibits on-campus camping, except under certain circumstances. The policy allows for students, faculty or staff to put up “temporary hammocks or other sleeping or lounging devices used while engaging in recreation or studying activities outdoors between sunrise and sundown.”

Members of the KU Palestine Solidarity Encampment said they were studying for final exams while participating in the encampment.

Barcomb-Peterson said the arrested person was not a KU student. She didn’t immediately respond to a question of whether the protester would be charged.

Protesters first created the encampment outside Fraser Hall last Wednesday, and have demanded the university divest from financial ties to Israel and provide transparency on its financial ties.

The group joined a movement of college students and protesters across the country demanding action from universities amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

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