Police dismantled the dwindling pro-Hamas encampment at the University of Michigan on Tuesday following a series of “troubling events” involving vandalism, violence and intimidation.
“Moving forward, individuals will be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests don’t violate the rights of others and are consistent with university policies meant to ensure the safety of our community,” University President Santa Ono said in a statement. “To be clear, there is no place for violence or intimidation at the University of Michigan. Such behavior will not be tolerated, and individuals will be held accountable.”
PROTESTERS CONTINUE TO BE SPRAYED IN THE FACE WHILE COMPLYING AND BACKING UP https://t.co/8kheSw1bT7 pic.twitter.com/xSyCJcusUA
— TAHRIR Coalition (@TAHRIRumich) May 21, 2024
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Tahrir Coalition, encampment organizers that claim to represent more than 90 student groups, reported university police wearing riot gear descended on the Diag around 5:54 a.m., with video posted online showing officers pepper-spraying dozens who refused to leave.
WE HAVE BEEN PUSHED BACK TO NORTH U https://t.co/Iy3wHWNCZo pic.twitter.com/jWq5O7LKlA
— TAHRIR Coalition (@TAHRIRumich) May 21, 2024
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About a half-hour later, the roughly 50 people at the encampment were cleared by police, who repeatedly warned protestors to leave before taking action. Four who refused to leave were eventually arrested and booked into Washtenaw County Jail, according to MLive.
I’m at the University of Michigan Diag for @freep, where university police recently cleared out an encampment that called for divestment from entities supporting Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Now only garbage trucks, U-Hauls and police pic.twitter.com/dBl5BijmAv
— Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) May 21, 2024
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Anne Elias, an activist who works in U-M’s library department, claimed on X the “raid at Umich happened while the students were praying. This was part of a sunrise Christian prayer hour.
“The email we received from Ono is enraging, and I will need time to process what university admin has chosen to do rather than **talk with their students**,” she wrote.
Ono said UM was forced to take action after the university fire marshal determined that fire hazards created by the protestors could result in a “catastrophic loss of life,” and protestors refused to mitigate those issues.
We’re rallying now at the Washtenaw County Courthouse to i support arrested comrades!
From Detroit to Palestine, police violence is a crime!! pic.twitter.com/pzsp2x9oZt
— YDSA🌹 @ U〽️ich 🇵🇸 (@YDSAUMich) May 21, 2024
“The fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources and stop using open flames,” Ono wrote. “The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment.”
For a month as many as 200 protestors had been sleeping in tents on the university’s Diag, where police presence had remained largely out of sight. Despite reports of vandalism, protestors accosting Jewish students, and literature calling for “Death to America,” police had arrested only one non-student on May 3.
National Students for Justice in Palestine alleged “multiple students” were injured when police cleared the Diag on Tuesday, though authorities have not confirmed the claim, WDIV reports.
Last week, dozens of protesters dialed up their antics by targeting the homes of seven out of eight U-M regents, littering their lawns with fake, bloody corpses and toys, and taping a list of demands to their doors.
“In recent days, the encampment fortified its perimeter on campus with chicken wire and brought in piles of plywood,” Regent Chair Sarah Hubbard posted to X. “They called upon others to join them to ‘resist’ removal. The Fire Marshall indicated this created significant risk.”
"Times like these are exactly why freedom of expression is so important and must be honored at public institutions like the University of Michigan. When it comes to freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and the right to protest peacefully, the University’s commitment has… pic.twitter.com/D4q4SVv1He
— University of Michigan (@UMich) May 21, 2024
“The University of Michigan welcomes all voices be heard on campus, but we are not a campground,” she wrote. “The safety of people on our campus is paramount.”
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday authorized charges for four individuals for assaultive behavior on police during a sit in at Ono’s office in November, adding to another identified and arrested in December, Bridge Michigan reports.
Hubbard outlined protestor’s demands and her response in a post she pinned to the top of her X page last week.
“Protestors want me to cut all ties with Israel’s higher ed institutions, let politics drive investment of our endowment funds, give unaccountable community activists control over the university’s budget and defund the campus police,” she wrote. “I say no, no, no and hell no.”
Protestors are “rallying now at the Washtenaw County Courthouse to … support arrested comrades!” Young Democratic Socialist of America at the University of Michigan posted to X Tuesday afternoon. “From Detroit to Palestine, police violence is a crime!”
Video posted online shows dozens of masked protestors donning keffiyehs as they march and chant outside of the district court building, which also houses the jail.
“We are going to stay until our protesters are released,” Shreya Chowdhary, a 23-year-old grad student, told MLive. “An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us.”