OXFORD, Ohio — Pro-Palestinian protesters are not letting up on campuses.

Students at Miami University marched, camped out and have been a part of a sit-in on campus after an emotional night of protests. 

What You Need To Know

  • The group 'Students for Justice in Palestine' organized the protests at Miami University in Oxford 

  • They marched Thursday night, set up camp in the middle of campus overnight, but were told to take down their tents 

  • Friday evening, students were sitting in the rain, and the protesters say they were told by the university officials they have until 9 p.m. Saturday

It started with a march Thursday that turned into an overnight camp in protest and left lead organizer Darek Sanabria Valderrama in tears.

“We, we put so much work into all of this,” Valderrama said.

He said he’d been up all night worried about threats.

“Around 4 a.m., we did end up seeing four men come in through that direction, but luckily the police were there," Valderrama said. "They went to them first."

He said campus police later told his group they were in violation too and that they had to take down the tents.

"Some of these policies they’re choosing to enforce they wouldn’t do under different circumstances at all," Valderrama said.

It all happened before they got answers as to why the group was there to begin with.

“It’s very slow moving," Valderrama said. "There’s nothing concrete coming back as to if we’re able to get any sort of specific information about companies the university’s invested in."

His group, Students for Justice in Palestine, has been calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza and for Miami University to show any finances going to Israel.

Similar protests across the state—and country—ended with students arrested, but Jacky Linden is willing to take that risk.

“I grew up with Syrian refugees, and through that I learned about the Middle East in general, and I’ve always stood up for human rights, and this is a human rights issue," she said.

She’s an international student from Europe, and she said any arrest could get her scholarship pulled, and she could get deported.

“I have to be very careful personally, as opposed to U.S. citizens," she said. "I feel safe. I feel like I am good at estimating when it’s too much, when I should step away, but our goal is not really to get anyone arrested. Our goal is to get divestment."

Students said university police gave them until 9 p.m. Saturday to leave, but this group said they’re not going to stop speaking out.

“It’ll always be worth it," Valderrama said. "There’s so many lives on the line. Every hour people are dying."

The university did not make any comments directly to Spectrum News 1 on Friday, but university police said they’ll be out as long as students are.

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