Three days of pro-Palestine protests at the University of North Florida ended late Thursday with 16 people arrested on trespassing charges — an action the university defended Friday.

The protesters pushed for the U.S. to help Gaza residents and for the university to divest itself of financial connections in Israel.

A campus activist group called Students for a Democratic Society — or SDS — was warned to clear out of the campus Green by 10 p.m. Thursday, then demonstrators were arrested about a half-hour later by Jacksonville sheriff’s officers on bicycles.

Of the 16 arrests, eight were students, charged with trespass after warning, University Police Chief Frank Mackesy said in a written statement Friday. UNF officials said demonstrators were given “multiple warnings” to leave by 10 p.m. as they had the previous two nights. But they did not.

In a statement earlier Friday, the school said it “respects the right for all to protest, demonstrate, assemble and express differing viewpoints.” But as people assemble to exercise First Amendment rights, they have the responsibility to follow laws and regulations, according to the statement from UNF spokesperson Amanda Ennis.

Article continues below

More from Jax Today

St. Johns Mosquito Control Board’s Christmas bonuses null and void

Memorial Park celebrates 100 years — and one historic photo

Raines High at 60: A season of success on the football field and off 

Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“Consistent with the university’s enforcement of reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, demonstrators at UNF Thursday evening were told by University Police that they needed to leave campus by 10 p.m., as they have done the previous two nights,” the statement said. “After multiple warnings, those who refused to leave were trespassed from campus and arrested.”

The demonstration was one of dozens in recent weeks at campuses across the U.S., where protesters decry the deaths of thousands of Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas.

President Joe Biden on Thursday rejected comments from many protesters that the U.S. must change its its approach to the war in Gaza, adding that while college students have the right to free speech, there can be no violence or vandalism.

Protesters on many college campuses have occupied public buildings, damaged property and clashed with police physically. Police used tear gas on protesters at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The protest at UNF was calmer. UNF’s SDS group began its sit-in Tuesday, holding hands and chanting that “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” in the grassy area near the Fine Arts Center.

After about two hours, campus police told protesters to take down tents and move off the grass, school officials say. Mackesy told Jacksonville Today he would allow First Amendment activity but the students could not “establish an encampment.”

There were no arrests at the time, although students were told they could face suspension if their tents went back on the grass, according to local news reports.

At sunset Thursday, the group was told that a 10 p.m. curfew had been initiated and they would have to leave by then. By 10 p.m., only a few people remained seated on the grass and chanting.

The lawn sprinklers came on just before 10:15 p.m., forcing some of the group to don raincoats. Mackesy said the sprinklers are programmed to come on normally at that time. “This was an oversight and not intentional,” he said.

Sheriff’s Office bicycle officers rolled onto the green just after 10:30 p.m., all in helmets and gas masks. Officers zip-tied the hands of demonstrators and escorted them to the porch of a nearby building. No one resisted arrest, Ennis said.

The Jacksonville Community Action Committee planned to join the SDS, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network and others at a demonstration at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They said they would “demand the release of the peaceful student and Pro-Palestine” protesters who were arrested.