At a Gaza solidarity protest that lasted through Thursday night’s freezing temperatures, University of Connecticut students were chanting Friday morning.

By 9:30 a.m. on Friday approximately 125 students and faculty filled the encampment, dubbed the “UCommune” at Dove Tower, a part of campus situated between the rec center and business school.

Demonstrators shared coffee, doughnuts and cold pizza donated to the encampment’s overflowing snack table. Students alternated between strumming folk songs on guitars and playing hip-hop through an echoing speaker. Many gathered in groups to talk and create posters. Others joined in a yoga session.

Roughly a dozen UConn Police Department officers monitored the area along the perimeter.

Just before 10 a.m. organizers took up a bullhorn as news spread that a prospective student tour was passing by.

Protesters chanted “Free free Palestine,” “There is only one solution: Intifada, revolution,”  “Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest,” “Resistance is justified, when people are occupied,” and “Every time Radenka lies, a neighborhood in Gaza dies.”

UConn students began the protest Thursday evening, calling for their university to divest from companies supporting the Israeli war against Hamas, according to a 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.

At UConn, about 300 students gathered Thursday evening, with one arrest — a 34-year-old graduate student, according to university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz. He was charged with interfering with an officer after allegedly pushing a police officer who was detaining another individual, Reitz said.

Reitz said that contrary to some reports on social media, the gathering was largely peaceful, with no reported injuries.

“The demonstrators were informed that their right to assemble and demonstrate peaceably would be respected, but that they would not be able to erect tents and/or establish an encampment,” she said in a statement.

Still, the protesters slept out in the open after police took their tents, despite temperatures in the low 30s. In the morning there were about 100 students gathered and several police at the site.

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 said they will not leave campus until UConn agrees to an 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, 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.”

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.

Student demonstrator Nell Srinath said the police engaged with protesters as soon as the tents hit the ground.

“As soon as those were pitched, police started coming in and taking them down,” Srinath said. “Students who were holding onto tents and trying to hold their ground were liable to arrest. People were manhandled by police … people in the encampment did a fantastic job of de-arresting, making sure people were safe, holding a soft block, locking arms in two layers around the circles so police couldn’t get through and make arrests.”

After the struggle, Srinath said the police left with one tent standing.

“To us that is incredibly significant,” Srinath said. “They could have taken us down in that moment. We didn’t let that happen.”

Student protester Muhammad Elsabbal described the university’s response as disappointing and hypocritical.

“They are here to protect students, not to arrest students,” Elsabbal said.

“They have a problem with the tents, but it seems like they only have a problem with the tents when there’s people speaking out against genocide,” Elsabbal said. “With the basketball tournament, you had folks standing outside Gampel with tents and that was all right, because clearly basketball is a little bit more important than genocide.”

Elsabbal said that for protesters, the mission is personal. He said that many of the students involved have family and friends who have been killed in Gaza.

“We have a responsibility to give them a voice because they didn’t die in vain,” Elsabbal said. “We’re going to stay here until the very end.’

One student, who remained anonymous due to safety concerns, said she has lost three family members in the war.

“My family lives in tents in Gaza. I have to listen to stories of my aunt losing 40 pounds within a short period of time. I have to listen to my aunt having to relocate her tent every couple weeks because of an immediate threat.

“They try to tell us they’re okay. They tell us they’re alive but we know there’s a lot more going on,” she added. “There’s probably a range of grief that we’ll never understand as Americans living here.”

The student said two of her cousins were killed in a drone strike. They were struck on their walk home after checking on animals at their family’s farm. She said her uncle died when a missile blew up the mosque in front of his house and flattened the facade of the home.

“It fell when he was trying to save his daughter,” she said.

When detractors criticize college protests and say it will have no impact on the war in Gaza, the student said she looks back at history.

“You have to look at the protests of Vietnam, the protests against Apartheid South Africa, and realize that these anti-war protests, anti-apartheid protests, it’s a real change in the country, and that’s the same type of change we’re starting to notice here,” she said.

“It’s gonna take a while, but I’m hopeful because we’ve seen divestment in the past and we’ve seen it even now,” she said. “Certain colleges are starting processes of divestment. So it’s real. UConn might not be the first, but it certainly will have to divest one day.”

More and more students trickled into the encampment as the day continued.

Organizers presented a “Know Your Rights” seminar to train protesters on what to do if they become detained by the campus police. Around 1 p.m.  protesters hosted a Jumu’ah Friday prayer service and students made plans for a Passover Seder later at 6 p.m.

At the start of the encampment, organizers identified roles and rules.

Rule one: “We fight for Palestine, not clout.” Two, “Never talk to Cops.” Three, “Do not talk to the press without training and permission. Four, “Do not interact with, engage, or antagonize counter protesters.” Five, “Choose a buddy, know where they are at all times.” Six, to follow social media updates. Seven “Do not use profanities in chants. Do not be foolish.” And finally eight, “Respect your fellow campers. No Islamophobia, antisemitism or bigotry of any kind.”

Many of the students who passed by the encampment on their way to class expressed support for the demonstrators. Others watched students with a mix of disappointment and disbelief.

“Personally, I do not support this at all,” UConn junior Nicholas C. after the protesters broke out into a series of chants. “I’ve heard a lot of, in my opinion, antisemitic stuff.”

Nicholas said he respects individuals’ right to protest, but he believes the demonstrations are “not healthy for our campus,” especially when students are trying to focus on finals week.

“I would imagine if you’re a Jewish student hearing things like ‘Intifada is justified’ and stuff like that, that can seriously create issues with trying to feel safe and focus on your last week of the semester,” he said.

Eva Dannison, a UConn freshman, works as a building ambassador at UConn Hillel. When parents and prospective students come for tours, she said the first question parents ask is “Do you as a Jewish student feel safe on UConn’s campus?”

“I wish that I would be able to tell parents and prospective students something different, but it’s my job to say that no, we do not feel safe on campus. And we wish that that would change,” Dannison said. “I feel like we are being failed by the administration and by the community at large, because I should be able to say that I’m comfortable in representing my proud Jewish identity on this campus, which is extremely large and diverse. But that just is not the case.”

Dannison said that things have been “very uncomfortable” on campus for months.

“There’s never really been a point in time where it’s been comfortable expressing your Jewish identity since Oct. 7 on college campuses, especially at a big campus like UConn,” Dannison said.

She said the encampment feels like “the climax of just everyone’s anticipation of waiting for the next thing to happen.”

“It’s definitely very uncomfortable. Not even just for Jewish students, just as a collective community during finals week,” Dannison said. “We’re supposed to be relaxing during Passover. It’s supposed to be a time where you’re celebrating freedom and this is definitely quite the contrary.”

“It’s not an easy environment to just exist in, let alone write essays and have exams while looking out the window and seeing what we’re seeing,” sophomore Ari Gerard added.

Gerard said she feels the protests are calling for the ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people from Israel.

“When they say ‘From the river to the sea,’ it’s not a statement of calling for a ceasefire or peace. They’re demanding that it free Palestine from what? It’s free Palestine from the Jews, and they’re making the thousands of students that live here think that that’s an acceptable thing to do and it’s just disturbing and it shouldn’t be allowed.”

Gerard said that he disagrees with the protesters’ vilification of Zionism.

“It’s just pure antisemitism,” Gerard said. “They attempt to make the argument that Zionism is not Judaism, but 90% of the world’s Jews are Zionist. And to be a Zionist, all it is, is the belief and understanding that Jews have the right to self-determination within their indigenous land. And if you disagree with that, then that’s antisemitism. And it’s really as simple as that. It’s not more complicated.”

Adam Opin, a member of the pro-Palestinian encampment, said “it’s often a deeply lonely experience as an anti-Zionist Jew on campus.”

“UConn Hillel and UConn Chabad, as organizations, their line is basically, ‘If you don’t support Israel, you’re not Jewish,’” Opin said.

“My Jewish faith teaches me to oppose apartheid,” Opin explained. “‘Tikkun olam’ means to repair the world, and I cannot see a possible way in which this ongoing genocide repairs the world in any context.”

Opin said the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus are “not antisemitic protests.”

“These are organized by a diverse group of  left-leaning individuals. We are all united in our opposition to antisemitism as specified in our code rules, and any antisemitic behavior will lead to one’s immediate removal from this action,” Opin said.

UConn Hillel Executive Director Edina Oestreicher said she has been encouraging students to  “steer clear of the demonstration.”

“I don’t think being present at these types of demonstrations, these events are productive for students who are of a different perspective. I think we’ve seen on other campuses they can quickly become hostile and with antisemitic chats and glorifying Hamas (and) glorifying terrorism,” Oestreicher said. “Students will make choices based on what they feel is right. But we are certainly not encouraging them to participate.”

When questioned about the university’s response to the demonstrations, Oestreicher said it’s important that the protesters adhere to the university’s policies for protest and assembly.

“I think peaceful protest, peaceful demonstration is an important aspect of our society and particularly on a college campus. I think it should be encouraged as long as it’s within the proper guidelines,” Oestreicher said. “For individuals who violate those guidelines … the appropriate actions are taken, whether it’s removal of the individuals, arrest of the individuals, whatever disciplinary action the university chooses to take.”

Some professors on campus visited the demonstration, some offering support, some intending to protect students from police.

UConn Professor Ariel Lambe said the police should “have no part” in the university’s response.

“As a faculty member, my first concern is my students’ safety and their education and I think both are being endangered here by the administration who don’t seem to be willing to engage with the students directly, but instead are using police officers in large numbers,” Lambe said.

Lambe described the approach as “inappropriate from an educational perspective and from a safety perspective.” She said the protesters’ concerns “should be a very serious discussion on campus. Not something that the administration tries to squash.”

“My concern is that free speech and academic engagement are being endangered here,” Lambe said. “Faculty regardless of their stance on what is going on in Palestine should be supporting our students and their right to express themselves (and) to assemble.”

UConn Professor Gary English, who serves as a faculty advisor to one of the student groups that helped organize the event, said the protesters have a right to public assembly and political speech.

English said he hopes campus police “refrain from any particularly aggressive response.”

“We’re talking about 125 students. We’re not talking about 1,000,” English said. “It doesn’t really pose a threat to the ongoing operations of the university at all, but it does allow the students to express their political views.”

Melanie Newport, a UConn professor who observed the arrests Thursday evening, said that “When we are talking about safe expression, we need to look at the whole of the action.”

“Be here for hours at a time and see how boring it is for the students to stay here and occupy this space with very simple demands,” Newport said.

Newport said she is worried about “flash points” between police and students, when officers rush in without notice or dialogue.

In her eyes, she said the police “had a completely dehumanized approach to the students,” when they approached the crowd of demonstrators Thursday.

“The students were the objects of their policing, not our students or people’s kids. And I was terrified by that because once they no longer see the students as people worth protecting, that opens up the door to violence. And frankly, any time a policeman touches a student in any of this, I regard that as violence,” Newport said.

She said some of “the students are quite paranoid” about what may happen as a result of participating in the protest.

“If you pay attention to how many of them are wearing masks, trying to keep their names off of social media, they are really afraid of reprisals from the university,” Newport said. “The punishment happening at other schools — being banned from housing, being banned from taking your finals, being banned from campus – these are extremely severe and disproportionate punishments.”

“Part of why we are trying to head off arrests is so that we can also try and prevent that level of punishment because administrations across the country are using those kinds of tactics to repress student speech,” Newport added.