UConn students launch protest of war in Gaza, call for divestment
University of Connecticut students Thursday evening began a protest calling for their university to divest from companies supporting the Israeli war against Hamas, according to statement.
The pattern of students setting up Gaza solidarity encampments followed by police intervention and arrests that began at Columbia University a week ago has played out on campuses across the United States this week and appeared to repeat at UConn.
Videos on social media show students attempting to set up tents on the Storrs campus Thursday evening and police intervening. One video appears to show a protester being wrestled to the ground and arrested.
The students, calling themselves UConn Divest coalition, said the goal of the encampment is “to protest UConn’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and its shameful contributions to militarism around the globe, and to advocate for a liberated Palestine.”
The group enumerated a list of demands, that the university “disclose and divest from occupation and genocide;” “sever ties to the war industry;” “sever ties to the settler-colonial state of Israel;” and “end repression of Palestinian and Pro-Palestinian activists.”
The group points in particular to Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and calls for Alumni Trustee Bryan Pollard, associate general counsel for RTX, to be removed from the Board of Trustees.
“While this encampment is unprecedented at UConn, our goal today is not solely to ‘make history’ but to end UConn’s complicity in the genocide of our siblings in Gaza,” UConn Divest said in a statement. “We center Gaza in our hearts and mind,” declared encampment organizers in a communication to supporters.”
A spokesperson for the University of Connecticut said information would be sent out “once it’s been finalized.”
Israeli officials and their supporters have repeatedly denied accusations of genocide, arguing that the nation’s attacks on Gaza are necessary to defend Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists that killed 1,200 Israelis.
Yale students resolute as protests continue in CT, spread across U.S.