Percy Bartelt, opinions editor

Nationwide, student protesters are gathering on their college campuses to combat the genocide happening in Gaza, whether it be urging their universities to divest their state funds from giving aid to the IDF, calling for a ceasefire or any other Palestinian-centered protests. These students and other joining protesters are being arrested left and right, most recently at the University of Minnesota where nine students and protesters were taken into custody.

Over at the University of Texas in Austin, over 30 protesters were arrested and the University police issued a warning to vacate the area. At the University of Southern California, over 50 protesters were arrested, which caused the entire campus to close down. CNN reports that “Protesters could be seen sitting with their arms linked, standing and chanting in the park after the announcement from the police.” At Columbia University in New York City, over 100 protesters were arrested while at the encampment set up by the organizers. 

These are just a few examples of student protesters bravely organizing in the midst of government betrayal. We’re seeing our First Amendment rights being bent and violated and for what? So aid can be upheld to the Israeli military? So ethnic cleansing and ecological warfare can continue to live on through generations of a specific group of people? I say again — PEOPLE. 

On another note of protesting rights, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving protesters and the liability against them when things unknowingly and unintentionally escalate. The case mentioned is “Mckesson v. Doe” which involves a police officer arresting civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson in 2016. The officer was injured by someone other than Mckesson, but the officer is suing Mckesson because regardless of if he knew about it or not, he should be responsible for everyone’s safety at the protest because he organized it. Feels like someone running their car into you and  suddenly you’re at fault because you “should have known there would be cars around.” But I digress. 

Despite all this, the Supreme Court is still legally backing up our free right to protest, but they haven’t explicitly gone against the opinions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which involves Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, on whether or not a protest organizer should be held responsible or liable for the actions of others. Despite these instances, as explained by the ACLU, there is still a lot of work to be done with smaller State courts that are on the other side of this argument, which we are seeing in states like Louisiana in which the Mckesson case takes place.

I feel like these cases just keep opening the door for the government to step right through and continually challenge our right to organizing, protesting and combatting awful rulings. Our right to protest for the sake of wanting to see a free Palestinian future is being denied. Our ability to safely and effectively protest is being denied and police are finding false ways to find us liable. 

While this is a heavily complicated issue that I can’t exactly explain within 600 words, I still urge people to stay educated on political issues such as this. Know your rights for the sake of a free Palestine and a fair trial for all those who have been unlawfully arrested for protesting.