SEATTLE — Despite requests that they leave, protesters in the self-proclaimed liberated zone at the University of Washington said Saturday they have no intention of ending their encampment unless the school meets their demands.
The refusals come amid concerns over possible clashes between protesters and a pro-Israel march planned for campus for Sunday.
“Our hope is that people with opposing views refrain from seeking confrontations and avoid antagonizing one another,” UW spokesperson Victor Balta said in an email Saturday afternoon.
The university is putting barricades around the tree-lined area where the encampment is located, known as the Quad, “to dissuade opposing groups from engaging with one another,” Balta added
The encampment, called Popular University for Gaza, includes more than 100 tents and has been going on for a week and a half. Organizers want the university to cut ties with Boeing, divest from Israel and end repression of pro-Palestinian students and faculty.
The university says it has been engaging with the protesters and continues to do so in hopes of finding a solution to end the encampment.
In a Friday news release, the university asked the encampment in the Quad to end the demonstration due to safety concerns. The university also said an encampment will not garner change from the administration. The university has been reluctant to cut its century-old ties with Boeing.
“Every day the encampment remains, the security concerns escalate and become more serious – for our UW community and for the people in the encampment itself,” the release states.
Zho Ragen, spokesperson for the University of Washington United Front for Palestinian Liberation, said organizers feel frustrated over UW’s comments but that it fuels their desire to keep going.
“If the university is not compelled to examine its complicity in [the war in Gaza] without us being here, I don’t see what other way we have forward to end our own complicity,” she said.
In an emailed response, a representative for the encampment said the group intended to remain on campus until the university meets the group’s demands.
Balta declined to comment when asked whether the administration plans to take further action against the protesters.
He said Sunday’s planned march through campus did not have a permit, but added that administration officials had been in contact with both the march organizers and with encampment representatives in advance of the event.
Asked whether the university was stepping up campus security Sunday, Balta said school officials don’t “share security plans in advance of events, but are taking appropriate advance measures in the interest of everyone’s safety.”
In Friday’s news release, the university said it has “repeatedly conveyed our concerns about these risks to encampment organizers and to those who organize counter-protests.”
“We are grateful to all, including leadership in the Jewish community, who are working to deescalate the situation,” the news release said. “We also welcome the efforts of Muslim and Palestinian leaders who are working to deescalate.”
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