Police Arrest Anti-War Protesters at Auraria Campus Encampment

Police in riot gear arrested dozens of anti-war demonstrators at the Auraria Campus on Friday, April 26, one day after the demonstrators set up an encampment on the Tivoli Quad in protest of university policies relating to Israel and the war in Gaza.

Echoing activists on college campuses across the country, organizers with the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and other left-wing groups say they were inspired by the actions of protesters at Columbia University, where similar demonstrations have continued following a police crackdown a week ago.

Videos posted to social media showed officers with campus police, the Denver Police Department and the Denver Sheriff Department encircling and arresting a group of demonstrators on the Tivoli Quad while a larger crowd looked on.

In an alert sent just before 12:30 p.m. on April 26, campus officials advised community members to avoid the Tivoli Quad “due to civil unrest.” Traffic routes into the downtown Denver campus — which houses the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver, and Metropolitan State University of Denver — were shut down for several hours before reopening that afternoon.

Protesters set up the encampment on Thursday, issuing a set of demands to Auraria campus leadership that includes the publication of a statement “condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” divestment from companies that operate in Israel and an end to study abroad programs in Israel. Two Colorado Democratic lawmakers, state representatives Tim Hernández and Elisabeth Epps of Denver, spoke to the activists Thursday evening, according to MSU Denver’s Metropolitan newspaper.

“Student protesters on Auraria’s campus are well-aware of this threat to their First Amendment rights to protest, anticipating disapproval and escalation from campus administration,” organizers wrote in a press release.

In a Friday afternoon statement, Auraria officials said there had been at least forty arrests of demonstrators by campus and Denver police. Campus policies “prohibit camping due to health, safety, and security concerns,” they said.
“When protesters did not comply after numerous written and verbal requests, law enforcement stepped in at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Friday to remove the encampments/ Detainees are facing trespassing charges per the campus camping policy.”

Campus officials had said in an earlier statement that they “fully support the right of students to assemble peacefully” while accusing “national disruptors who are not students” of joining the demonstration.

Following the events at Columbia, similar scenes of heavily outfitted police breaking up student encampments have played out at a number of college campuses this week, including high-profile incidents at New York University, Princeton University, Boston’s Emerson College, Georgia’s Emory University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Since Israel’s intense bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza began after October 7, when a Hamas-led attack killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, at least 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, though human rights organizations say that number now represents a significant undercount as civil authority breaks down and Gazans face the threat of mass starvation and disease.

Former Westword staff writer Chase Woodward is now a senior reporter with Colorado Newsline, which published this story originally. Read it here.