TAMPA, Fla. — University of South Florida students and other community members gathered once again for a pro-Palestinian demonstration — this time off campus.
Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, protesters began assembling at the corner of 56th Street and Fowler Avenue, just a few blocks away from USF's Tampa campus.
However, protesters eventually marched to USF before returning back to their original spot. Protesters wrapped up about 10 p.m.
USF police said they made no arrests during Wednesday's demonstrations. Law enforcement was present once more at Temple Terrace.
Dozens could be seen waving Palestinian flags and holding signs that read "Stand with Palestine! End the occupation now!" and "Ceasefire now!" Protesters are demanding the university condemn Israel's assault on Gaza and divest from companies they believe are pro-Israel.
"Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!" protesters chanted, calling on USF to both divest from companies tied to Israel and disclose its investment information.
Protest organizers did not comment on whether they plan to demonstrate during graduation ceremonies at USF beginning Thursday.
"If they want graduation to proceed, then they need to divest and let the students say they stand with Palestine," protester Chrisley Carpio said.
This demonstration comes just one day after pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with law enforcement on USF grounds, resulting in 10 arrests. What started as an hours-long peaceful protest ended with law enforcement in riot gear deploying tear gas as crowds of people dispersed.
In a statement, USF said around 75-100 protesters, including some not affiliated with the university, arrived at the Tampa campus Tuesday morning with items like wooden shields, umbrellas and tents.
"As the day progressed, police observed participants in person and through social media expressing their intent to use some of the items they brought on campus as weapons and to resist university staff members and law enforcement officers. As a result, USF police determined that the protest was no longer peaceful, and participants must leave the area," the USF statement read, in part.
However, protestors at the off-campus demonstration on Wednesday said it was the police and USF administration that escalated the situation.
“USF administrations has continually violated students’ first amendment rights and attacked them in more and more brutal manners," one protester said. "It was the police, it was USF administration who escalated everything. The proof is online. It is there for everybody to see."
Similar pro-Palestinian protests are sweeping college campuses across the U.S.
A brawl erupted at UCLA after pro-Israel protesters tried to remove barricades at a pro-Palestinian encampment, and activists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents, in a day of escalating violence on some college campuses over the war in Gaza.
The chaotic scenes unfolded Wednesday after police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.