PHOTOS: Despite tension with counterprotesters, peace prevails at UW’s pro-Palestinian tent camp

After a mostly quiet week at the University of Washington’s pro-Palestinian solidarity camp, protesters faced counterprotesters for the first time Tuesday night. Despite a few scuffles between the two sides, nobody was reported to be seriously injured after hours of facing off.

By the time the street lamps snapped on around the University of Washington’s campus, you could see hundreds of people pressed together at the east entrance to the Quad.

Pro-Palestinian students and protesters who have been holding a solidarity tent camp in the Quad, called a “Liberated Zone,” packed shoulder-to-shoulder between Smith and Miller halls, completely blocking the east entrance.

They waved large green, white, red, and black flags in support of Palestine.

Earlier on Tuesday, campus police had dropped off metal barriers which were used to create a wall. Signs that read, “FREE PALESTINE,” were also used as barriers. At the very front stood a line of bicyclists using their bikes as a blockade.

For the past week or so, as the camp has grown to over 100 tents, conditions at this camp have been mostly peaceful.

That peace was really tested for the first time on Tuesday.

On campus that day was Charlie Kirk, a conservative commentator, holding two events. While Kirk said he wasn’t there to agitate people inside the camp, both events were held close to the Quad at the Husky Union Building.

“If they’re not breaking any laws, like occupying buildings,” Kirk told his supporters in the afternoon, “I am a stickler for free speech.” Though Kirk did make clear he disagrees with the protests and supports Israel's war in Gaza.

As a long line of people waiting to see Kirk formed, more activists showed up to the Quad in solidarity with the protesters there.

Around dusk, some people who had been in line for Kirk, or didn’t make it inside because the HUB was at capacity, started to approach the guarded east entrance.

There was a lot of shouting back and forth. One side would chant, “FREE GAZA,” and the other would respond with a “USA” chant. A few people who tried crossing the barriers into the camp were pushed back by protesters. But at no point did the tense standoff really erupt — in stark contrast to the violence recently seen at campuses like Columbia University in New York or UCLA in California.

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Campus police, who had been noticeably absent for about the first hour, quietly showed up to the Quad around dark. About four uniformed officers stood back and observed. Only one officer was called to the front after a counterprotester claimed someone from the other side had sprayed a cellphone camera.

Victor Balta, a spokesperson for the university, said in an email that the University of Washington Police Department would not share details of their security plans but wrote that police were “taking appropriate security measures.” He also wrote that the metal barriers were temporary and meant to dissuade the two sides from interacting.

By 10 p.m., nearly all of the counterprotesters had left the area and pro-Palestinian protesters headed back into the camp, leaving the metal barricades and signs up overnight.

“We have to be out here protesting the war,” said a student named Ali who was waving a large flag. “We want peace. We want the fighting to stop — that’s all.”