On April 29th, the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the USF Divest Coalition set up an encampment on the University of South Florida (USF) Campus on the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza. This encampment was an act of solidarity with the people of Palestine, as well as demanding that USF divests from weapons manufacturers that are currently providing material aid to the Zionist entity. The University of South Florida President, Rhea Law, has repeatedly ignored the demands for divestment from the Zionist state of “Israel.” The USF administration, preventing students from exercising their First Amendment rights, immediately arrested 3 people in an attempt to silence both the students and community.

Both the student body and community of Tampa were not afraid. So the next day, on April 30th, another encampment was set up. The University of South Florida created bogus and illogical rules, saying we were not allowed to gather on MLK Plaza, a public space, after 5pm. They used these excuses as a justification for enacting violence and political repression on the USF students and community members. In their statements afterwards, they mischaracterized wooden shields held by the protestors as "weapons" and used that as further justification for the flagrant violence that President Rhea Law, Dean Danielle McDonald, and the heads of the six police departments that were all present planned to unleash on the peaceful students and community members in what was clearly a premeditated attack.

Around 5:20pm, the police announced that they would be using "chemical munitions," tear gas, on the encampment. They marched in with riot gear and threw multiple tear gas canisters at them. At least one of the tear gas canisters ignited an open fire. They arrested ten people, targeting some of the leaders of the protests, and grabbing others at random, but violently assaulting all of them in the process. People were roughly thrown to the ground and piled on top of by 5 to 10 cops, with knees pressing their heads and necks into the ground in a method taught by the Israeli Occupation Forces and used to murder George Floyd. This instance of police brutality and political repression around pro-Palestine protests is not new in the history of USF’s administration. Back in March of 2023, the USF administration unleashed police violence upon the Tampa 5 for defending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Now, once again, the USF administration has refused to listen to the demands of their students, choosing to unleash chemical munition onto its students.

The people understand that all of the charges on the protestors are made up - they are lies intended to cover up the real crime, the assaults by the police on the protestors as part of the state's coordinated repression of pro-Palestine and anti-imperialist speech - they must all be dropped completely. People who have done nothing wrong should not be made to complete Misdemeanor Intervention Programs.

We demand that the Florida State Attorney, Suzy Lopez, drop all of these bogus charges on the USF13! They were exercising their First Amendment rights in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Protesting is not a crime!