Yahoo TV

Heavily armed police, including several on horseback, made several arrests after being deployed to the University of Texas (UT) campus in Austin on Wednesday, April 24, to disperse a pro-Palestinian walkout protest held by students.

The demonstration was organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of Austin, which planned to lead a march to the campus’s South Lawn and occupy the area for the day, and aligned itself with similar protests taking place at other universities across the country.

According to local media, state troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and officers from the University of Texas at Austin Police Department (UTPD) successfully blocked a group of about 200 people from reaching the South Lawn, and began making arrests after engaging in tense standoffs with protesters.

In a statement, the office of the university’s dean of students said: “Simply put, The University of Texas at Austin will not allow this campus to be ‘taken’ and protesters to derail our mission in ways that groups affiliated with your national organization have accomplished elsewhere.” Credit: The Texas Horn via Storyful