In the early hours of Wednesday morning, police moved on an encampment on the UNM campus where people had gathered for about three weeks in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The UNM police department and state police cleared dozens of protesters and pulled down improvised structures. They arrested seven people and charged them with criminal trespass and wrongful use of public property. Those are the same charges faced by 16 encampment members who were arrested last month for occupying the Student Union Building.
One person was also charged with concealing their identity.
The university says protesters committed multiple policy violations and had been warned to leave or face enforcement. Protesters say that while they celebrate having won a commitment from the university to investigate its financial connections to Israel, the police action was unjustified and they plan to keep up the pressure on university leaders.
Final hours
In the morning after the police moved in, protesters regrouped by the side of the road near the university. They told KUNM about the final hours of the encampment, after university President Garnett Stokes issued an ultimatum calling on protesters to leave by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14.
"People started showing up and just having talks and groups and feeding people and just trying to build a more positive community," said a participant who gave only his first name, David, for fear of repercussions.
He said people gathered to show support and stayed long into the night.
"Beautiful group of people," he said. "Non-violent, obviously, we just tried to build a community and try to stand up for causing a ceasefire to happen. We're tired of kids getting killed." Gaza's health ministry says 35,000 people have been killed in the conflict, of whom nearly 8,000 are children.
At about 5 a.m., police told protesters they had to leave or face arrest.
"They just lined up," said David. "You can see them all come out there in their riot gear."
Another protester, Selinda Guerrero, criticized the police for moving too fast after that.
"There was no cooperative conversation," she said. "There was no way for people who were just waking up to even be able to grab their personal belongings and follow an order that was given to them."
UNM spokesperson Cinnamon Blair said in an email to KUNM that a notice to vacate was distributed among protesters at the time, warning them their possessions could be discarded if they didn't leave within an hour. She said some items were with the UNMPD and could be claimed.
"Those at the encampment were asked numerous times to disassemble the structure and remove their belongings,” she said. “Yesterday, they were given the opportunity to do so with no penalty of policy violation if it was done before 5 p.m. Instead, there was a call for more people to join and the structure was further fortified.”
Previously, President Stokes said in a statement Tuesday that protesters had violated many university policies, from restricting access to the space to theft and harassment.
A little after 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, there was almost no sign the encampment had ever been there.
Community response
Later that afternoon, a coalition of community and faith groups, along with state lawmakers, called for an immediate, permanent ceasefire outside the federal courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque. They also demanded an end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel following reports earlier that day that the Biden administration plans to move ahead with a new $1 billion weapons shipment with the country.
Sandra Akkad, a Palestinian-American teacher, called the student demonstrators “heroes” whose voices should be heard.
"President Stokes, you need to give the courtesy and the respect that I know you should and can to our students," said Akkad. "There should be no penalty for standing up for justice, because they have the moral compass, and they have the courage. We can stand to learn from them."
State Senator Linda Lopez said universities are where movements begin and that there is “still an opportunity” to talk with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and members of the UNM Board of Regents, who the senate approves, about treatment of the encampment.
"We should not be silencing voices," she said. "And yes, there will be more conversations. We’re engaging and we’ll see what happens during the special session."
Lawmakers are set to convene for a special legislative session in July. Supporters of the encampment are expected to join in public comment at a meeting of the Board of Regents on Thursday morning.
Next steps
Andre Montoya-Barthelemy, a doctor who supports the calls for the university to divest from Israel-related investments, said he attended a meeting Tuesday between President Stokes and members of her administration, and protest leaders.
In the meeting, Stokes agreed to one of the demands of the protesters — to investigate the university's financial ties to Israel.
"We were very happy about it," said Montoya-Barthelemy. "We were happy that we were able to build this relationship, and that she was willing to take that first step."
But he said as the meeting progressed he was dismayed to realize she expected the encampment to be dismantled that day.
"I have the distinct impression that the university and leadership intended to come to this meeting provide a single concession, a non-material concession, no movement towards the divestment, while at the same time exerting this threat to violently disband an encampment, which had been standing for three weeks," he said.
In the initial aftermath of the clearout, protesters say a new encampment is unlikely, but some kind of protest will continue. Encampment members and their supporters have also called on the university to drop the criminal charges against demonstrators who were arrested and not pursue academic discipline against those who are students.
A post on the group’s Instagram account is calling for people to attend Thursday's meeting of the UNM Board of Regents to demand both divestment and the resignation of President Stokes.
Protester Becca only gave her first name because of concerns about repercussions of speaking
"It's going to become a lot more dispersed and they're not going to be able to all convene on us all at once," she said. "And that's all I'll say about that."
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