GAINESVILLE — Police and state troopers arrested nine pro-Palestinian protesters late Monday who had occupied a campus plaza at the University of Florida for days. They were among the first college arrests in Florida involving national protests on campuses against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
University police Sgt. Courtney Marie Burgoyne said officers arrested nine protesters, who were led away in handcuffs. According to university records, at least seven of the nine were current or former UF students. One was facing a felony charge. It followed the arrest of three other protesters at the University of South Florida in Tampa hours earlier.
The administration at Florida’s flagship public university said in a statement the protesters had violated new rules announced last week that included “no disruptions” and a ban on camping, sleeping, bullhorns and tents – but it didn’t immediately say exactly what the protesters were accused of doing wrong. A spokesman, Steve Orlando, declined Monday night to answer questions about the arrests.
“I do not have to tell you anything,” an unidentified campus police officer told a protester at the scene. About 30 protesters remained after the arrests. Some shouted “shame” and “who do you protect?” at officers and troopers.
County jail and university records identified those arrested at UF as Tess Jaden Segal, 20, a sustainability major from Weston, Florida; Augustino Matthias Pulliam, 20, a former theater major from Jacksonville, Florida; Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, of Jacksonville; Parker Stanley Hovis, 26, a computer science major from Gainesville; Keely Nicole Gliwa, 23, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Gainesville ; Allan Hektor Frasheri, 20, a philosophy major from Largo, Florida; Roseanna Yashoda Bisram, 20, an engineering studies major from Ocala, Florida; Allison Marie Rooney, 23, of Valrico, Florida; and Mary Caitlin Boerboom, 24, a former philosophy major from Chesapeake, Virginia.
Frasheri was facing a felony battery charge accusing him of spitting in the face of a police officer. The others faced combinations of misdemeanor charges of trespassing, failing to obey police, resisting arrest or wearing a mask on public property.
Under the university’s new rules, students who violate them will be suspended, and employees or professors would be fired.
In a statement emailed to reporters 16 minutes after the arrests, Orlando said police gave the protesters “multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply” before they were arrested.
“This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children – they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences,” Orlando said in the statement. “For many days, we have patiently told protesters – many of whom are outside agitators – that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly.”
The arrests occurred at about 7:40 p.m. on Monday at the school's Plaza of the Americas, the centrally located square at the heart of campus. Law enforcement officers – including about 15 campus and municipal police officers and about six Florida Highway Patrol troopers – marched toward the plaza and protesters with batons in hand. No one was struck.
Police appeared to shut off power in the area during the arrests, then restored it immediately afterward.
Last week was the last day of regularly scheduled classes for the semester. Some students are finishing final exams this week.
Sunday night, as police explained the university’s new rules to protesters, some of them criticized officers and compared them to members of the white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Israeli Defense Force: “IDF, KKK, UFPD, you’re all the same,” protesters chanted as someone beat on a drum.
A judge released eight of nine pro-Palestinian protesters from jail early Tuesday after their arrest on the University of Florida campus on Monday. A ninth protester, identified as a UF student, remained jailed facing a felony battery charge related to his arrest.
Allan Hektor Frasheri, 20, a philosophy major from Dunedin, Florida, was accused of spitting on a campus police officer during the arrests Monday night. He was being held in lieu of a $5,000 bond. Police and state troopers arrested the nine in a move coordinated with the university administration.
The university had previously threatened to banish anyone who was arrested from campus for three years and suspend any students. Employees or professors who were arrested would be fired, the school said. The university has already issued trespass orders against all nine arrested protesters, prohibiting them from entering campus until April 2027.
They were among the first college arrests in Florida involving national protests on campuses against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza where Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel last October. Three protesters were arrested earlier Monday at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The violence and vandalism at some campus protests nationally have so far not materialized in Florida.
“You have a right to support or not support Israel, that’s the First Amendment,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday at a press conference. “You don’t have a right to pitch a tent in the middle of campus and commandeer some of the property.” He added, “We’re not going to be sitting there, indulging this.”
During the court hearing, Alachua County Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered the eight protesters be released on misdemeanor charges of trespassing, failing to obey police, resisting arrest or wearing a mask in public.
At least seven of the nine protesters were current or recent UF students, including Frasheri, although the university said many of the protesters on campus were “outside agitators,” according to a school press release on Monday. The judge, Miller-Jones, said none of the nine had any prior criminal history and released them on their own recognizance.
The demonstrations at UF have been organized by a loose coalition of student groups – including the campus chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America – identifying itself as the UF Divestment Coalition. One of the coalition’s demands is that UF, with a $2.4 billion endowment, divest securities from companies providing military or technology support to Israel.
“The Plaza of the Americas is a free speech zone and protesters were exercising their First Amendment rights," Adam Dowley, a spokesman for the coalition, said in a statement.
Family, friends, and professors attended Tuesday’s court hearing to speak on behalf of the defendants.
The most serious charge was against Frasheri, whose mother told the judge that he was a child “every mother wishes for” and said he wasn’t a dangerous person. Frasheri’s partner said he was a person others sought for support.
Court records, made public Tuesday afternoon, said Frasheri spit on the right arm of university police Officer Kristy Sasser as she was helping a state trooper walk away with another protester under arrest. She said Frasheri “walked up to us and spit on me. His spittle landed on my right arm. I disengaged from the escort and arrested Frasheri for battery.”
A photograph of Frasheri after police arrested him shows him handcuffed and wearing a medical mask over his mouth, walking near Sasser.
Organizers said they were raising money for Frasheri’s bond and expected him to be released from jail later Tuesday.
The public defender unsuccessfully argued in court that some of the charges represented double jeopardy since they involved the same offense, declining to leave the public university’s Plaza of the Americas when ordered by police.
The judge said such legal issues can be considered by a jury. “That’s not where we’re at today,” she said.
Even a day later, it wasn’t immediately clear why police at UF decided to arrest the protesters after five days of periodic demonstrations. Police on Thursday night handed out paperwork that promised to allow activities that included “speech,” “expressing viewpoints” and “holding signs in hands.” The written rules prohibited unspecified disruptions, sleeping, tents, sleeping bags, pillows or permanent structures.
The university’s rules previously had outlawed blocking anyone’s path, blocking entrances or exits to buildings, interfering with classes inside or outside classrooms, harassing passersby or damaging property.
Last week was the last day of regularly scheduled classes for the semester. Some students are finishing final exams this week.
Minutes after police and troopers started arresting the protesters, the university emailed a statement to reporters attributed to spokesman Steve Orlando that said, “The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children – they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences.” Orlando declined to answer questions.
The Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, on Tuesday noted the arrests on campus and, in a post on social media, said, “As students demonstrate on campuses across Florida, we remind school administrators that freedom of expression is a cornerstone of education in a democratic society.” The group last year sued UF and others over unsuccessful efforts by the DeSantis administration to ban a pro-Palestinian student from campus.
The others arrested at UF were Tess Jaden Segal, 20, a sustainability major from Weston, Florida; Augustino Matthias Pulliam, 20, a former theater major from Jacksonville, Florida; Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, of Jacksonville; Parker Stanley Hovis, 26, a computer science major from Naples, Florida; Keely Nicole Gliwa, 23, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Gainesville, Florida; Roseanna Yashoda Bisram, 20, an engineering studies major from Ocala, Florida; Jinx Rooney, 23, of Valrico, Florida; and Ember Boerboom, 24, a former philosophy major from Chesapeake, Virginia.
In court papers, Rooney was identified as Allison Marie Rooney, and Boerboom was identified as Mary Caitlin Boerboom.
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at vivienneserret@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.
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