Police arrested roughly 40 pro-Palestinian protesters Friday as tensions flared at an ongoing demonstration on Denver’s Auraria campus, authorities said.
One video captured by a witness shows two people being led from a crowd in Tivoli Quad in handcuffs, as protesters chant, “Get these fascists off our campus!”
About 100 protesters could be seen at the height of the demonstration, surrounded by officers dressed in riot gear, some with masks. The police formed themselves into a line and put up police tape to keep the crowd contained.
The protesters who were arrested all face potential trespassing charges, Auraria Campus police said in a written statement. The arrests were made by campus police and officers from the Denver Police Department.
“We will continue to monitor this ongoing situation and remain vigilant,” the statement said. “Our top priority remains the safety of all students, staff, faculty, and community members.”
Protesters began assembling at Tivoli Quad on Thursday, as part of a nationwide effort by pro-Palestinian groups to call on universities to divest themselves from Israel for its actions in its war with Hamas.
Auraria Campus police said officers began intervening to remove a protest encampment about 12:30 p.m. Friday, after protesters ignored “numerous” written and verbal requests to disperse.
On Friday, Auraria Campus posted a series of emergency alerts on X encouraging the public to stay away from the Tivoli Quad “due to civil unrest” and noting that all inbound traffic to the campus was closed. The campus houses facilities of three separate universities and colleges: the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver, and Metropolitan State University of Denver.
By late Friday afternoon, after many protesters had dispersed, many other students remained on campus, sitting in groups together and standing near a group of tents. They began chanting, “long live Palestine,” led by a protester yelling through a megaphone.
Most of the police force had also cleared the campus quad.
AnnaRose Craig, a senior at the University of Colorado Denver, joined the protest Friday around 12:30 p.m., about 24 hours after students initially gathered on the Tivoli Quad.
Craig said protesters, including students, faculty and community members, were urging institutions like CU Denver to disclose their financial ties with corporations like aerospace company Lockheed Martin, a major defense contractor, and to divest from corporations operating in Israel.
When Craig, who uses they/them pronouns, arrived at the demonstration, they said students were standing in front of the encampment surrounding it, arms locked. As police began to arrive in the afternoon, students began to sit down.
Police continued to arrive, with at least 20 police cars, about 15 police motorcycles and a bus pulling up to campus, Craig said.
Craig, 21, said police were in riot gear and displaying weapons.
The quad continued to fill with more police officers and more protesters. One by one, police arrested students who were “sitting on the ground peacefully,” Craig said.
Once they had arrested students, police “forcibly pushed through the crowd of mostly students and young people standing there with their arms linked peacefully,” they said. “They pushed through us and we were nearly trampled. A lot of people were trampled.”
Craig said a police officer hit their head with a baton. Still, they stayed before leaving later in the afternoon.
“I’ve been devoting a lot of my energy to this cause and to the liberation of Palestine,” said Craig, who took a course about Palestine in the fall. “Once I began to learn about it, I didn’t really feel like I had another option, and I think that any human being with a brain and a heart should probably care as much about this as I do.”
They hope CU Denver and Chancellor Michelle Marks will be open to a conversation about student demands instead of disregarding them.
“I was not breaking the law,” Craig said. “I was not doing anything illegal. I was there to be in solidarity with my comrades, and I think that this is an important moment for me to be a part of and I want to be on the right side of history and I want to do the right thing.”