UNT pro-Palestinian protesters organize student walkout

DENTON, Texas - Hundreds of students at the University of North Texas held a walkout Tuesday in opposition to the Israel-Hamas war.

The protests and responses to them have been different in North Texas from what’s been seen in Austin and other parts of the country.

The student walkout in Denton remained peaceful.

There was no highly visible show of police force, but there were Denton and UNT police officers on the periphery.

UNT's Palestine Solidarity Committee demanded the university disclose if any foundation investments are linked to Israel and, if so, to divest.

Organizers also want a public apology from the university after a Jewish student group invited members of the Israeli Defense Forces to speak remotely for a Q&A.

Students waved Palestinian flags and said they were standing in solidarity with others around the country arrested during protests.

"Today is going so well. We are honored to be in community with everyone," said junior student Talia Rishad. "I refuse any complicity of this university or any of our institutions. We refuse to be complicit in normalizing that genocide."

The students gathered outside the library and then marched across campus, stopping at the administration building.

UNT released a statement saying it recognizes and supports the rights of free speech, going on to say safety precautions were put in place prior to Tuesday’s protest.

The statement said the university encouraged faculty, staff and students to be respectful of each other.

"We will not be going near those barricades. We will be here and peacefully demonstrating," said junior student Talia Irsh.

The peaceful protest never interacted with law enforcement, and no arrests were made.

FOX 4 did not see any pro-Israel counter-protesters Tuesday, but there were plenty of students uninvolved with the protest who stopped to see what was going on.

"When I heard about it, I was like with everything going on, it might be a little risky," said student Megan Muths. "But I think they did it great here and a great job."

The protest wrapped up just before 4 p.m., and all campus activities returned to normal.

The university also pointed out no classes were canceled Tuesday.

Students say some professors rescheduled classes and meetings for the demonstrations.