The University of Arizona closed portions of its mall Tuesday, posting β€œno trespassing” signs, after Monday’s β€œencampment” there by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Much of the grassy area of the UA Mall, an iconic Tucson green space heavily used by students and other members of the public, is fenced in, surrounded with warning signs about trespassing, after Monday’s protest.

A senior administrator at the university told the Arizona Daily Star on Monday night that portions of the mall will be closed through commencement, which is May 10; a spokesperson for the UA did not answer inquiries Tuesday about how long the mall will be closed.

The protesters reacted by moving to a different campus site and saying they planned to spend the night Tuesday in defiance of university policies and arrest warnings. They set up in the afternoon near the UA main gate, next to Arizona State Museum, and brought in their own fencing, which UA Police told them to remove.

β€œThere were a lot of agitators yesterday and we want to protect ourselves” by fencing themselves in, said an organizer of the Students Against Apartheid protest group, who said his name is River and refused to give his last name, saying he feared retaliation. β€œThere is an intention to stay as long as we can” β€” although Day One of the β€œencampment” ended Monday night with the demonstrators voting to disperse and leave rather than face arrests.

β€œNot fair to close it”

UA students Ty Hardley and Veronic Ellingboe seemed puzzled when they first walked by the mall Tuesday and saw the fencing.

They were planning on walking through the area and realized they had to go around, something Hardley called β€œan inconvenience.”

β€œPeople were just expressing themselves last night,” said Hardley, who is from California. β€œAnd they didn’t trash the area or anything.”

The only apparent damage visible within the fenced-off green space was clumps of dirt created by a lawn care machine an employee was running earlier Tuesday.

β€œIt’s honestly stupid,” Ellingboe, an Arizona resident, chimed in.

Alexia Penn, a senior from the British Virgin Islands who is less than two weeks away from graduating, said she β€œwasn’t really sure” why the area was closed, partially because there has been no email sent to students explaining the situation.

β€œI don’t really hang out on the mall so it doesn’t affect me,” she said. β€œBut it’s not fair to close it for students. They deserve to have a voice.”

Some said UA officials made the right choice, however. Alec Cohen, a graduate student from Pennsylvania, said he was heckled by anti-Israel protesters when he showed up to a counter-protest.

β€œI had firsthand experience of them being violent,” Cohen said. He said that when he was approached by a television reporter at a protest last week, a pro-Palestinian protester β€œgot in my face.”

Cohen added that he’s β€œnot against it given what’s going on on other college campuses,” noting that he does β€œsupport the right to protest unless there’s a security risk.”

When asked whether he thought Monday’s β€œencampment” posed a security risk, Cohen nodded.

Day One ended with no arrests

Monday’s protest on the mall, hosted by Students Against Apartheid, lasted for more than 12 hours as participants rallied against Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Protesters made the decision to take down their tarps and supplies at around 9:30 p.m. after voting on whether they were willing to be arrested.

β€œThe vote is to disperse,” an organizer, holding a megaphone, told the group at around 9:30 p.m. β€œThat is not a loss. Arrest does not always mean material gain.”

The group’s leaders decided they would remain and risk getting arrested if more than 50 people were willing to stay. They did not hit that threshold, the organizer acknowledged.

A UA spokesperson, Mitch Zak, said there were no arrests Monday.

He said of that outcome: β€œTonight illustrated the value of community dialogue between organizers, campus leaders, and public safety.”

β€œThe University of Arizona demonstrated its commitment to respecting and protecting the free speech rights of our students and the community in accordance with established campus use policies,” Zak said.

UA Police were prepared to arrest anyone on the mall past 10:30 p.m., they repeatedly announced to the group. Additionally, there were more than 10 police cars, from the Tucson Police Department and from the Pima County Sheriffs office, stationed in a parking lot behind the social sciences building. There was also a SWAT truck there.

β€œUniversity policy provides that non-academic activity on the mall and across the campus must conclude by 10:30 p.m. The university expects students, staff and campus visitors to adhere to university policies. Those who do not disperse when requested will be subject to arrest,” Zak said.

University officials dispute the group’s use of the word β€œencampment,” Zak said. β€œThat suggests we are allowing tents which we are not,” he said.

Protesters did set up tarps on poles staked in the ground on the mall.

In a statement posted on their social media channels, Students Against Apartheid wrote that they made the decision β€œin considering the safety of students and community members.”

β€œTonight was incredibly successful and we want to thank everyone who showed up in solidarity with Gaza,” the organizers wrote. β€œThank you to the organizers, everyone who donated, everyone who brought supplies and thank you to all the brave UA student campers.”

Colleges around the U.S. are imploring pro-Palestinian student protesters to clear out encampments with rising levels of urgency this week, the Associated Press reported. Police made more arrests at the University of Texas and Columbia University said it was beginning to suspend students who defied an ultimatum to leave the encampment there by an afternoon deadline.

Crackdowns on encampments led to more than 200 arrests over the weekend, including more than 70 at Arizona State University in Tempe, and others at Washington University in St. Louis, Northeastern in Boston, and Indiana, according to media reports. The ASU protesters were arrested on criminal trespassing charges related to the encampment going on past 11 p.m., a violation of university policy.

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Reporter Ellie Wolfe covers higher education for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson.com. Contact: ewolfe@tucson.com.

Reporter Ellie Wolfe covers higher education for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson.com. Contact: ewolfe@tucson.com.

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