Family, supporters of arrested UT-Austin pro-Palestine protesters waited hours outside jail

As the pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas campus died down Wednesday evening following more than 50 arrests, supporters moved to the Travis County Jail, gathering outside in the Woodmansee Plaza breezeway with supplies and plans to wait through the night.

Visible through two sets of glass double doors, a group in the jail’s lobby worked into the evening hours, shuffling through bond paperwork while working to bail out protesters arrested during the swift law enforcement response to the peaceful, unauthorized protest hours earlier.

The crowd outside grew to about 200 people, some of whom brought cases of bottled water, snacks, pizza and blankets. Among them were the parents and siblings of those arrested, UT alumni and the imam of the Islamic Center of Brushy Creek, a local mosque.

Law enforcement officials, jail staffers and attorneys came in and out of the jail, including George Lobb, an attorney with the Austin chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, an association of activist legal workers. Lobb provided updates as the bond process moved forward.

More:Charges dropped against all 57 arrested in connection to UT-Austin pro-Palestinian protest

One father, Youssef Fakhreddine, questioned the legality of his daughter’s arrest on misdemeanor trespassing charges, saying they’d attended previous pro-Palestinian demonstrations since Oct. 7 — when Hamas militants attacked Israel, which has retaliated with a military campaign on Gaza — without issues.

“They just grabbed her. She wasn’t doing anything at all, and they charged her with criminal trespassing. Trespassing what? She was on the street of the campus,” Youssef Fakhreddine, 62, said of his daughter, who was participating in the protest. ”I’m angry because this is not right. There’s no freedom of speech here.”

His daughter, Jumana Fakhreddine, later told the American-Statesman that her arrest took place 10 minutes after she had arrived at the protest, around 1 p.m. She and one other student were the first two protesters to arrive at the jail, she said. 

Jawab Rasul, an imam at the Islamic Center of Brushy Creek, which he said several UT students attend, said he was saddened by the arrests. He emphasized that more than 30,000 Palestinians have died since Israel began its siege of the densely populated Gaza strip in October. 

“These (protesters) are being arrested and demonized, being called names, while they are calling for an end to genocide,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday, UT officials sent out a letter saying they would not tolerate disruptions “like we have seen at other campuses.” In a statement shared Thursday by UT spokesperson Brian Davis, the university said this week’s protest had “significant participation by outside groups” that “expressed an intent to disrupt” campus operations.

Thirteen pro-Palestinian free speech events have taken place “largely without incident” at UT since October, the statement said.

As he waited, Youssef Fakhreddine talked to others about the day’s events over the megaphone-led rally of a group of younger supporters. Over the beat of a snare drum, their call-and-answer chants included "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the occupation has got to go,” “Free Palestine” and “We want justice, you say how, stop arming Israel now.”

At nearby Wooldridge Square Park, Lamar Qaddumi, a UT sophomore and member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee — the registered student organization and chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine that organized the Wednesday protest — was filling out bond paperwork for her brother, Ammer Qaddumi.

Ammer Qaddumi, a junior at UT and member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee, was the first person arrested at Wednesday’s protest, Qaddumi told the Statesman on Wednesday evening. As her brother was trying to get people to disperse, a police officer pushed him into another officer and arrested him, she said.

“That's when everything escalated,” Lamar Qaddumi said.

Ammer Qaddumi attended a second demonstration at UT Thursday and was among a number of speakers, including U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, and Austin City Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, who represents downtown Austin, where UT is located. 

Lamar Qaddumi said she likes going to UT, and would like to continue going to UT, but that there’s only a conditional respect for the student body. 

“I would like to see an equal support of Palestinians as they've shown to Israeli and Jewish students,” Lamar Qaddumi said. 

One parent, Bassel Tizani, said he had encouraged his children to participate and was shocked to learn of the arrests.

“I fully supported them because they are just expressing their opinions peacefully and just want to say, ‘There is an oppressed people and we want to stand with them,'” Tizani, 58, said in an interview.

The crowd kept up the chants into the evening. Two people were released just before 12:30 a.m., nearly 12 hours after the first arrests on campus. One was Youssef Fakhreddine’s daughter, who embraced her parents in the lobby. Her mother wiped away tears as they walked outside to greet the crowd.

Staff writer Lily Kepner contributed to this article.