JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida said university police officers arrested a total of 16 people Thursday night after they refused to leave campus during a pro-Palestine rally.
University police arrested the demonstrators and charged them with trespassing and they were escorted off the campus in zip ties by officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and taken to jail.
MORE: No sign of protesters at UNF graduation ceremonies after at least 9 arrested on campus Thursday
The university said eight of those arrested were students and the other eight adults were not students.
Spinnaker, UNF’s student-run media, reported that at least 50 UNF police and JSO officers showed up on bicycles with face and gas masks and students were told to either leave or be arrested because the campus was closed.
17/ This is the scene now. “Great job everybody,” was just said over the radio pic.twitter.com/Je5jKxN2MD
— Carter Mudgett (@CarterMudgett) May 3, 2024
All 16 were initially held on a $500 bond and several of the protesters had bonded out by Friday afternoon.
The ones who went before a judge Friday were allowed to be released on their own recognizance with a May 13 arraignment date.
Those who were arrested ranged in age from 18 to 41 years old.
UNF said police told the protesters they needed to leave the campus by 10 p.m. like they had the previous two nights and comply with the university’s enforcement of reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, but they refused after multiple warnings.
UNF said no one resisted arrest and there were no injuries.
With graduation starting Friday morning, UNF President Moez Limayem sent a thoughtful, but stern message about the protests that have been overshadowing the pomp and circumstance at colleges nationwide.
“I’d like to remind all Ospreys and guests that UNF prohibits protests or demonstrations inside University buildings and prohibits disruption of scheduled events,” Limayem wrote. Our top priority is ensuring the safety of our entire campus community and our visitors. We are also committed to protecting the First Amendment rights of every student, faculty and staff member. Please remember, that with those rights come the important responsibility to follow applicable laws and regulations and understand that there are consequences for those who choose to ignore them. Again, these rules are in place to protect every person on our campus, where there is no tolerance for hate or bigotry of any kind.”
Limayem’s statement also acknowledged that many of those graduating Friday were among those who missed out on high school graduation ceremonies because of the pandemic.
“Four years ago, in the beginning of the pandemic, many of these same students graduated from high school. Yet, they missed out on much of the pomp and circumstance. Traditional ceremonies, including graduates walking across stages, accepting their diplomas and celebrating with families and friends, were disrupted,” he wrote.
Increased security could be seen at Friday’s undergraduate ceremonies at UNF but there were no signs of protesters.
News4JAX spoke with demonstrators at UNF on Thursday afternoon.
“At the end of the day, I think graduation is important so folks can get the things they worked for, but at the same time, we have the privilege to go to a university, every single university in Gaza has been destroyed, we have 35,000 people dead, 14,500 of them being children and we are still worried about a graduation, that is insane to me,” UNF demonstration organizer Marlo Crosby said.
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Crosby said his group stands in solidarity with demonstrators across the nation, and at the same time respects the privacy and safety and students on the campus of UNF.
″I hope people get the degrees they worked for. Lord knows tuition is expensive, believe me, I know tuition is expensive. My college expenses are through the roof, but that being said, our humanity has to be our priority first, and anyone with a right mind should be supporting Palestine resistance and against genocide in every sense of the word,” Crosby said.
Tensions across the nation are growing at college campuses with some protests turning violent as people speak out about the Israel-Hamas war.