Among the protesters arrested at the University of South Florida pro-Palestine rally was a 39-year-old man with a gun.
Atah Othman is charged with trespassing, unlawful assembly, resisting an officer and possession of a firearm on school property.
It is unclear what his connection to the school is or exactly what type of weapon he brought with him.
Atah Kheir Othman, 39, was arrested Tuesday on the USF campus and charged with possession of a firearm on campus, among other things.
Several of the protesters did not appear to be USF students.
The arrests came after dozens of agitators gathered near Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza on the Tampa campus for a demonstration that quickly spiraled out of control. On Monday, several arrests were made at the same place.
The school said that after 5 p.m. Tuesday, the protest would no longer be considered legal.
When protesters failed to disperse at that point, police arrived with tear gas to break up the group before making arrests.
Othman was arrested along with nine other people and released on bail shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
Protesters at the University of South Florida saw their Gaza solidarity camp dismantled Tuesday night.
Some of the protesters raised wooden shields and umbrellas when police arrived with tear gas to break up the demonstration.
The anti-Israel protest on campus was organized by the group Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society. It attracted about 100 protesters, some of whom were not enrolled in the university.
According to a local NBC report, some protesters lined up with umbrellas and wooden shields as police moved to remove them.
Finally, police authorities used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released a statement Tuesday: “After repeatedly ignoring multiple dispersal orders while assisting the University of South Florida Police Department with an unauthorized protest, #teamHCSO used tactical skills to evacuate the agitators.”
Others arrested and released, who may not be students but have now been charged with serious crimes, include Emmanuel Atmosfera, 25, and Leonardo Tilelli, 23.
Others arrested include Daniel Powell, 32, Jake Geffon, 23, and Cameron Pressey, 27.
It is unclear what the older, sometimes armed, non-student protesters were doing at the student-organized demonstration.
USF told Fox News that any student arrested as part of the protests may be subject to sanctions from the institution.
On social media after the lockdown, the rowdy group of students wrote: ‘SHAME ON USF! The USF administration allowed the brutalization of students and community members using their rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
‘We will not be silenced. We call on students, teachers and the community to attend an emergency demonstration in solidarity with students and Palestine!’
The school told students they had to clear the area by 5 p.m. Tuesday or face consequences.
The consequences were the intervention of law enforcement, who arrested 10 of the protesters.
A pro-Palestinian protester listens to a speaker at the school’s MLK Plaza before the camp was abolished.
Radical students wearing keffiyehs were detained, as they have been in many schools across the country this week.
Pro-Palestinian protesters take their belongings and leave the premises, while law enforcement patrols the University of South Florida.
A pro-Palestinian protester is arrested by police at the University of South Florida on April 30.
Law enforcement officers arrest a protester after clearing an “unlawful assembly” where pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering in MLK Plaza at the University of South Florida on Tuesday, April 30.
The Sunshine State has taken an especially strong stance against the spate of pro-Palestinian protests that have emerged on college campuses in Florida and across the country.
The University of Florida shut down one such protest earlier this week and reportedly arrested nine protesters.
In a statement, the university made its position crystal clear: ‘This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare and we did not treat protesters like children; they knew the rules, they broke them and face the consequences.’
The large school is led by former Republican Senator Ben Sasse.
