A fight for free speech and international justice resulted in a controversial crackdown at the University of Houston, where a pro-Palestinian encampment prompted police action and ended with two student arrests. The protests have been sprouting up at universities across Texas, focusing on urging the schools to divest from companies supplying weapons to Israel for their use in Gaza.

Early Wednesday, campus officials and law enforcement moved quickly to firmly break down the set-up at Butler Plaza. Protesters had erected wooden barricades and covered the space with blue tarps, creating a makeshift camp overnight. According to click2houston, campus police began disassembling the barricades around 9 a.m. and did saw up the tarps, even while demonstrators were still standing on them.

The university maintains that such encampments violate state statutes, leading to the decision to take down the protest site. “Tents and encampments are not permitted on campus grounds in accordance with state statutes,” a university spokesperson said in a statement obtained by click2houston. Despite dismantling the camp, officials stressed that protesters were allowed to continue their demonstrations in line with UH policies concerning peaceful assembly.

Later in the morning, tensions escalated as law enforcement officers arrested two of the student demonstrators. One was taken into custody for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, while the other was arrested for failing to identify themselves, as per university statements. The demonstration subsequently moved, eventually settling outside the Harris County Joint Processing Center, where it seemed the students had been taken. Photos and videos of the event circulated online, depicting a scene where the crowd remained vocal and buoyant, in sharp contrast to the earlier confrontation at the encampment site.

According to a FOX 26 Houston report, the University of Houston attempted to establish a dialogue with protesters, delivering verbal notices every 15 minutes to remind the group of the campus rules against setting up an encampment. These efforts, however, didn't prevent the eventual arrests or disbanding of the protest site.