University of Arizona students weigh in on campus safety after violent protests

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The University of Arizona campus was much calmer on Wednesday during the day and night after people protesting for Palestinian human rights turned violent in the early morning hours.

Early Wednesday morning around 1 A.M. protestors started throwing things at law enforcement officials and some of them got arrested. Originally they were in their encampments, but refused to leave after 10:30 P.M., when the university said they had to leave campus because of their policy. They did get multiple warnings from campus police.

They started throwing things at law enforcement officials around that time, but things picked up when they took to the streets and started being violent towards law enforcement.

Jessica Gierstrofer is a sophomore at the university who lives near Park and University where the protest happened. She said when she went to work on campus, they started locking doors they normally don’t lock.

She said getting UA President Robert Robbins’ email did reassure her about the school’s response to the violence on campus. However, she said the university should increase security.

“Just like upping the security patrol and even down maybe by the apartments or just on campus in general would be a good idea,” she said.

Ethan Holley is also a sophomore at the university who lives near where the protest happened and he said he got the U-alerts the university sent. They let him know about the protest, but he feels like they could have had more details.

“They kind of just say police on scene or police about to engage in rubber bullets and gas and stuff. Between them arriving and then it jumping to that, they didn’t really describe if the protest was violent,” Holley said.

KGUN9 News reporter Andrew Christiansen contacted the school to ask if the protestors who turned violent would face consequences and they said they are working on that information.