“Our priority was to ensure the safety of all students, faculty, staff and visitors to our campus during what we anticipated could be a tense evening, and we took steps to maintain distance between opposing groups,” University spokesperson Victor Balta said in an email Tuesday evening. “For the safety of everyone on campus and to dissuade opposing groups from engaging with one another, we restricted access across the Quad this evening.”
While police were originally stationed surrounding the barricades to the Quad, United Front members say they asked them to move farther from the “Liberated zone,” with pro-Palestine demonstrators securing access to the Quad throughout the night.
Both the Seattle Police Department and the University of Washington Police Department were present on campus throughout the evening.
“We believe that we keep us safe … we don’t believe that cops keep us safe here,” said United Front member Tabeed, who asked that their last name not be used out of concern for privacy. “Police can also bring escalation.”
United Front members say they are demanding the University materially and academically divest from Israel, cut ties with Boeing, and end the repression of pro-Palestinian students, staff and faculty. On Tuesday, the Associated Students of the University of Washington passed a resolution calling on the University to meet the group’s three demands.
University spokesperson Victor Balta said university administration have had four conversations with encampment representatives, with the goals of understanding the group’s concerns and reaching a conclusion.
“The fact that they are meeting with us is a step in the right direction,” said Tabeed. “We’re hoping to keep working with admin but … we will be here until those demands are met.”
Scarlet Hansen
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