COLUMBUS, Ohio — Officials with The Ohio State University said more arrests were made Thursday night during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus.

According to a preliminary report sent by a university spokesperson, there were 36 arrests — 16 students and 20 not affiliated with the university. 

What You Need To Know

  • Thursday's arrests happened after nearly five hours of protests on The Ohio State University campus

  • Students, faculty and community members joined the protest in the South Oval area of campus

  • Law enforcement began arresting protesters shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday

  • Several protesters were arrested on campus Tuesday during a demonstration

The arrests began at about 10 p.m. after police told hundreds of protesters to disperse from where they had gathered at the South Oval area of campus. The protest started at 5 p.m. and included students, faculty and community members asking the university to divest from Israel.

Law enforcement said tents had been erected at the protest, which isn’t allowed.

Officials instructed protesters to leave the area, but demonstrators refused. After several hours of warnings, law enforcement began making arrests.

The Ohio State University officials released the following statement as arrests took place: “Well established university rules prohibit camping and overnight events. Demonstrators exercised their First Amendment rights for several hours and were then instructed to disperse. Individuals who refused to leave after multiple warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass.”

Those who were arrested are expected to be arraigned Saturday morning, according to the Franklin County Municipal Court.

Five activists have already been arrested on campus this week. On Tuesday, two students were arrested for disrupting campus business, and three more people — a graduate student, an employee and someone not affiliated with the school — were arrested Wednesday and have since been charged with criminal tresspass for refusing to clear the area and leave.

While at another event, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was asked about the protesting on OSU’s campus and the university’s response.

The governor responded that universities have to balance the First Amendment and that colleges are places people should be able to express their own point of view.

“On the other hand, they have the right to have some basic rules,” he said. “What you saw last night is they allowed the demonstration to go on for some time. When it got dark, frankly, they invoked their rule, which says that you cannot occupy that part overnight, nor do they allow any kind of tents or encampments there. That’s not a new rule. They’ve had that for a number of years.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine speaks on the OSU protest and the university response. (Spectrum News 1)

He said he felt Ohio State did well. He also said the university asked for support from the highway patrol, which he said backed up the state police.

“I think it’s always a balance,” he said, “and I think de-escalation is always important, but I think we should keep in mind, you know, the individuals who were ultimately arrested were told over a repeated period of time, a number of hours, that it’s time to wrap this up. It’s time for you to leave for tonight. They were told that. They were told they were going to be arrested.”

Ohio’s chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations is condemning what they called the university’s alleged excessive use of force during these protests.

The organization claims that at least 41 protesters—mostly students—had been arrested for criminal trespassing. These numbers do conflict with those offered by the university's preliminary report.

The organization issued the following statement Friday:

“It is deeply concerning that OSU’s response to students demonstrating peacefully in solidarity with Palestine is forcible suppression of free speech and assembly. This mirrors a nationwide trend of colleges and universities attempting to censor pro-peace, anti-war, and pro-Palestine advocacy on campuses.

“It is alarming to receive reports of protesters having their hijabs ripped off and being arrested while in prayer, Muslim students are not just feeling unsafe on campus, but being actively criminalized. All students should feel safe while expressing their views and engaging in their right to assemble peacefully. We demand OSU immediately cease any further acts of repression against the protesters and take action to respect and protect the speech of its students.” 

Regarding the students arrested Tuesday, a university statement stated that Tuesday's demonstration had become disruptive and read, in part:

"When the disruptive activity continued, two individuals were arrested. Ohio State has an unwavering commitment to freedom of speech and took this action in alignment with our space use rules to provide for the orderly conduct of university business."

A lawyer representing the two students arrested Tuesday, Nadeem Quraishi with The Quraishi Law Office, LLC, said they have entered not guilty pleas for the charge of criminal trespassing and that the case is set for pretrial conference in about a month.

In response to the university statement, Quraishi said it's their position that these are college students who were "demonstrating in accordance with their first amendment rights and their rights under the constitution" and that they were compliant with university policies.

"We're in the judicial process," he said. "We have full faith in the judicial system, and we expect that justice is going to be served and our clients are going to be vindicated."

Spectrum News' Jenna Jordan and Jamilah Muhammad contributed to this report.