Brown University students arrested following sit-in protest
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A group of student protestors was arrested for trespassing on Brown University’s campus Wednesday evening following an hours-long protest of Jewish students calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East.
While they hoped to draw the attention of university leadership, they instead drew the attention of university police.
The sit-in started around noon Wednesday with 20 students — some of whom say they’re Jewish — trying to draw the attention of university leaders, asking them to divest from companies that the protesters say profit from ongoing violence in Gaza.
“We are Jews, who are just as concerned about the rise of antisemitism, just as concerned about our friends and families in America and around the world, Israel and Palestine included. And also understand that the fates of the Jewish people and Palestinian people are intertwined,” one organizer said.
According to university officials, the protest remained peaceful throughout the day, but when the university building closed Wednesday evening, students were given two options: leave, or be arrested for trespassing.
A group of students was arrested by Brown University police for trespassing and turned over to Providence police to be processed.
During that time, hundreds of students gathered around University Hall as students were escorted out in handcuffs.
Other students weren’t cheering the demonstration though, telling ABC 6 News that this group is an outlier on the campus.
“So I think that these students are a very small proportion of the Jewish students on campus. And from my experience, I’m a part of the Jewish community here, and I feel like they don’t represent the large majority of the Jewish population on campus. And really the large majority of the Jewish population on campus are in support of the state of Israel,” explained freshman Gabriel Burstyn.
Organizers of the protest saying Wednesday’s actions show there are different opinions in the Jewish community.
“We’re trying to dispel the narrative that there is one Jewish voice, that the Jewish voice is in favor of the indiscriminate bombings in Gaza that has come at the cost of ten thousand Gazan lives,” said another organizer after the protest.
In a statement, Brown University said the students who were arrested were given multiple warnings to leave the building and told they could face arrest, or even being kicked out of the university if they didn’t.
Officials at Brown also say they’ve worked to listen to students and address their concerns and will continue to do so.
