A person that was a part of an “Ohio State Gaza Encampment” was arrested on the South Oval Thursday. Credit: Nicole Nowicki | Asst. Campus Editor
The first person was a part of an “Ohio State Gaza Encampment” led by community members and the university’s branch of Students for Justice in Palestine. Students began to set up the encampment at 4 a.m., amassing about 30 people, but the crowd quickly dissipated following the arrest.
At 9:42 a.m., Ohio State police directed the crowd to leave the area by 10 a.m. They said the demonstration was violating the university’s space rules, which restrict certain activities across Ohio State’s campuses.
University spokesperson Ben Johnson said the encampment is a violation of the university’s rules as the group did not reserve the space.
Jeremy Strickland, an organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America, said the protesters did send a space reservation request. Johnson said he is unaware of the request.
The crowd still lingered on the South Oval until 10:12 a.m., when two vans and five Ohio State police cars drove up to the scene and unloaded 15 police officers.
Students and community members asked the police to speak with an administrator. The university declined the request.
Around 11 a.m., an Ohio State employee and an Ohio State doctoral student were arrested by Ohio State police on charges of criminal trespassing, according to Johnson.
Johnson said police asked the individuals to disperse multiple times as a continuation of the university’s policy on gatherings and encampments.
Treva Lindsey, an Ohio State professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies who witnessed the two later arrests, said the individuals had been sitting and reading on the South Oval.
This marks the third, fourth, and fifth arrests on campus this week as two students were arrested Tuesday at a protest outside Meiling Hall on a charge of criminal trespassing.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was updated at 11:34 a.m. and previously misstated that the person arrested was a student. According to university spokesperson Ben Johnson, the arrestee is not enrolled at the university.
This story was updated on 11:56 a.m. to state that the students arrested Tuesday were arrested on a charge of criminal trespassing, not convicted.
This story was updated at 1:05 p.m. to include the fourth and fifth arrests.
