Anti-Israel students from suspended group arrested while disrupting board meeting at Metropolitan State
The two students were arrested after chanting ‘Which side are you on? Which side are you on? Justice for Gaza is justice for us all’ at the board meeting.
The SDS features several anti-Israel demands on its website.
Two anti-Israel protestors were arrested at Metropolitan State University (MSU) of Denver after disrupting an MSU board of trustees meeting.
The protest took place on Sept. 20 and saw students from MSU Denver and from the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) disrupting the meeting and chanting slogans like “Students want justice, students want peace!” and “Divest now, hands off the Middle East!” in order to express their opposition to Israel.
At one point, two members of the radical student group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) quietly chanted: “Which side are you on? Which side are you on? Justice for Gaza is justice for us all.” The two individuals were then promptly detained by the Auraria Campus Police Department for their disruptive behavior.
[RELATED: Anti-Israel FSU students banned from commencement]
UCD told Campus Reform that SDS “remains on interim probation while the investigation process for organizational conduct continues.” SDS is also reportedly suspended by MSU.
In response to the arrests, Denver’s SDS called on their followers to call the police department and say: “I am appalled and deeply concerned upon hearing that two students were arrested for peacefully singing in protest during the MSU board of trustees meeting today.”
The SDS website provides a list of anti-Israel demands for the University of Colorado, including publishing “a statement condemning the genocidal actions of Israel,” fully divesting “from any corporations which operate in Israel,” and “refus[ing] to accept grants or funding from corporations that contract with the U.S. armed forces and terminate any relationships with said corporations.”
This spring, the Auraria campus, which is shared by MSU, UCD, and the Community College of Denver, was one of many American campuses to experience an anti-Israel tent encampment. As previously covered by Campus Reform, the campus encampment saw widespread disorder, including a growing “homeless population on the quad” and human feces around the campus.
[RELATED: Sac State anti-Israel students claim victory, says school ‘agreed to all student demands’]
The SDS National Convention took place on the Auraria campus on Saturday and Sunday, and featured speakers and events focused on “keep[ing] the fires of the student movement burning - for Palestine, for education, for our social movements, and for a college life based on equality, peace, and justice.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Metropolitan State University, the Auraria Campus Police Department, and the Students for a Democratic Society for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
Follow Travis Morgan on X.
