14 Auraria protesters face charges after occupying building

DENVER (KDVR) — Pro-Palestine protesters continued demonstrations on Denver’s Auraria Campus on Tuesday, and 14 of them were issued a summons after occupying a building while campus leaders said finals were underway.

“Several dozen” protesters marched from the Tivoli Quad through campus on Tuesday afternoon and “made unauthorized entry” into a building around 5 p.m., Auraria Higher Education Center said in a release on Tuesday night.

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The demonstrators “occupied the first floor of the building and impeded students’ access to classrooms for final exams,” the release reads. “Additionally, they chanted, pounded drums, and used amplified sound in violation of campus event policies, and therefore, they violated MSU Denver’s Student Code of Conduct.”

Auraria Campus police officers issued 14 of them a summons on counts of trespassing and failure to obey lawful orders after giving them three warnings, according to the campus.

Auraria Campus issues ’emergency alert’ for police response

The escalation came after student organizers of the pro-Palestine encampment at Auraria met with campus and state education leaders in the Tivoli building around midday Tuesday, where police at one point responded to the building.

Auraria Campus posted an “emergency alert” at 11:46 a.m. about police activity in the building and asked that people avoid the area. At 12:45 p.m., the campus posted that all had returned to normal.

Student journalist Sara Martin with the newspaper The Metropolitan reported that the doors to Tivoli were zip-tied shut at about noon while protesters met with campus officials. After initially blaming the zip ties on protesters, MSU Denver President Janine Davidson corrected an earlier release and said the zip ties were placed by “law enforcement to secure the doors.”

In another post, Martin also showed that handcuffs were placed on a door to the Tivoli Student Center, which Martin said had been placed there by an officer.

She followed up that report with a video from inside the building, showing protesters gathered and chanting in a hallway near an open area.

Martin reported the locked doors lead to the Tivoli Brewery and “quad side of the building.” Shortly after Martin’s post, the Auraria Campus posted a statement on social media the protests were “active and contained to the Tivoli. Area outside of the Tivoli is considered normal campus operations.”

Protest leaders meet with state education official

Auraria Campus said a meeting was held just before noon on Tuesday between Dr. Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, and protest leaders.

“During the meeting, protesters demonstrated on the first and second floors inside the Tivoli Student Union,” the Auraria Campus release said. “This disruption occurred while Dr. Paccione listened to the protesters’ concerns. During the conversation, protesters made their demands known, threatening to disrupt commencement ceremonies if demands were unmet.”

Monday protesters occupied locked offices, Auraria Campus says

Protests escalated on Monday as well, according to Auraria Campus, which said protesters “forcefully entered and occupied the private, locked Auraria Campus executive offices within the Tivoli Student Union. The protesters pushed past a student employee and then refused to leave after multiple requests.”

The campus release said Auraria Campus staff and police “led a conversation that resulted in protesters agreeing to meet at a future time.” The student protesters left the building before 5 p.m., according to Auraria Campus. The campus release also said that “protesters’ tactics have escalated beyond peaceful protests with evidence of trespassing, biohazard threats, blocking city roads and vandalism.”

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On Monday, Martin, with The Metropolitan, posted photos that she said showed protesters sitting outside administrators’ offices inside the Tivoli building. The sit-in reportedly ended after a meeting with the Auraria Board of Directors had been agreed upon. Denver’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, the group leading the Auraria Campus encampment, requested support at the rally outside while students met with the administrators.

On Monday, the student group responded to an email the group said was sent by Davidson, the MSU Denver president. The email was titled “Demonstrators refuse dialogue offer” and was also published on MSU’s website.

The group said that they have not refused dialogue, claiming the president previously agreed to meet with “demonstration leaders,” but backed out of meeting with members of Students for a Democratic Society who do not attend MSU Denver.

Denver: No public health complaints about pro-Palestine encampment

According to a Monday email from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, there had not been any public health complaints made about the camp, nor had the department heard of public health problems at the camp. However, the department also said it had not assessed the camp’s conditions.

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