A few hundred protesters gathered at Denver’s Auraria Higher Education Campus on Thursday, established a camp, and requested the University of Colorado to stop its involvement with Israel.
Protesters put up more than twelve tents and brought food and water to the Tivoli Quad while leaders led chants, offered legal advice, and vowed to stay until CU officials addressed their demands.
The protest was similar to those at other universities across the US protesting the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Members of the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society stated that campus officials warned them that the police would break up the protest at sunset, but no police were present at the protest as of 8 p.m.
Organizer and Metropolitan State University of Denver student Paul Nelson said, “This is an issue between students and administrators, and there’s no need to involve police. Nobody’s safety is at risk. It would be political repression, plain and simple.”
Denver Police Department vehicles were parked outside the Tivoli Student Union at 5:30 p.m., but spokesperson Katherine McCandless said officers were monitoring the protest and would soon leave the area. Denver police did not plan to break up the protest Thursday night, McCandless said, and most of the vehicles were gone by 8 p.m.
Nelson and other student organizers initially planned a rally in support of Palestine but decided to turn it into a camp, inspired by similar protests at Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Southern California. Student demands include for the CU system to divest from any corporations operating in Israel, end and refuse future grants or funding from corporations with military contracts, end study abroad programs in Israel, publish a statement “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” disclose the university’s financial investments and for CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks to meet with student organizers. Protesters at Denver’s Auraria campus set up camp and demanded that the University of Colorado stop supporting Israel.
“We’re not afraid of any repression that’s coming because we’re standing on the right side of history,” organizer Geral Mueller said.
Organizer Abdullah Elagha said, “We would love to pack up and go home but until those demands are met we will stay here.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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The protest mirrored those at universities across the country against the war between Israel and Hamas.
