A group of roughly 100 pro-Palestinian LSU students held a protest on campus Friday, but soon encountered a similarly large group of heckling counter-protestors.

Wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas in a steady drizzle outside Patrick F. Taylor Hall, the protesters gathered around noon and held up signs and chanted slogans like "LSU don't hide, you're supporting genocide" and "disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest."

At first a handful of counter-protesters appeared, holding up an American flag and chanting "USA." But the group steadily grew, and began trying to drown out the protesters with their own shouts.

Some of the shouts mocked the protesters' weight, and others told the students to "get out of our country."

Throughout the afternoon, protesters repeatedly told each other "do not engage" with counter-protesters and began marching toward the center of campus, followed by the hecklers. The two sides walked on either side of the street, separated by officers.

By the time the protesters reached the front of the Student Union building, the crowd had grown to roughly 200 people. The crowd of counter-protestors began singing the national anthem as protesters chanted "Israel bombs, LSU pays, how many kids will you kill today?" 

Several counter-protestors made vulgar comments about protestors' gender or sexual orientation.

At one point, eight LSU Police officers lined up to separate the two sides. 

"I'm sure counter-protesters are here to make us look like we're unorganized or we're violent but we're not," said 21-year-old LSU student Ryan Spalt, an organizer of Friday's pro-Palestine rally. "We're not here to protest them ... we're not worried about engaging." 

Behind the protestors' efforts Friday was a group of students' requests for LSU to remove any investments or partnerships with Israeli organizations.

He said the LSU Administration has shut down a resolution written by the Student Government Association requesting divestment.

"They also have not commented on the genocide," he said. "We're asking that they do so for the sake of the Palestinian students that go to LSU."

LSU administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding Friday's protest or requests for divestment.

LSU senior Hannah Poltorak, 21, could be seen at front of the counter-protest group carrying an Israel flag Friday afternoon.

"Nobody has ever cared about the Jews," Poltorak said. "Given the fact that pro-Palestinian students claim Israel is the problem, and (those students) aren't even Palestinian, I feel that it's my right, as an American Jew, to have my voice heard."

The protest was one of many at universities throughout the country by students protesting Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza in response to a Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

At Columbia University, protesters occupied a building and were eventually flushed out and arrested by police. A police sweep of protests at the University of Texas led to multiple arrests, including of one television journalist.

At Tulane University in New Orleans, protesters set up encampments on campus Monday and remained there through Tuesday night. Police eventually cleared the encampment, and 14 people were arrested. 

At the University of Mississippi on Thursday, a demonstration drew a large crowd of counter-protestors. Police eventually escorted the pro-Palestinian group away from the scene. 

The entire demonstration at LSU lasted a little more than 2 hours and did not turn violent.

"It was important is that we didn't give these hecklers, these agitators any opportunities to disrupt the movement and create violent moments," said 19-year-old LSU student Gabriella Juarez. 

Juarez said the crowd of counter-protestors was larger than she and other pro-Palestinian organizers expected.

"They just want to disrupt the movement and promote whatever their political project is, and frankly, they just seem angry and hateful ... But all that shows to me is that the movement is growing strong."