(WWJ) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced criminal charges against 11 people connected with the Israel-Hamas war protests on the University of Michigan campus this spring.
Most of the charges stem from incidents that happened during the May 21 dispersal of the encampment on the Diag, a large park space in the center of the U-M campus, which led to clashes between police and protesters.
Nine people have been charged with trespassing, while seven of them are facing an additional count of resisting or obstructing police, a maximum two-year felony. Two others have been charged in connection with incidents during counter protests on a different day.
Nessel’s office, due to “the multi-jurisdictional nature of the protest activity,” reviewed a number of cases out of Washtenaw County and reviewed evidence connected to more than 35 protest participants, including body-worn camera footage from dozens of officers, police reports, statements, social media posts, surveillance videos and more.
Following the review process, Nessel’s office on Thursday announced charges related mostly to the May 21 incidents, but declined to prosecute anyone for actions during the March 25 Honors Convocation at Hill Auditorium or protests outside the Museum of Art on April 22.
The investigation into incidents at the homes of UM Regents remains ongoing, Nessel’s office said.
Nessel’s office said the charges that were issued Thursday “are not predicated on the content or subject of protected speech.”
“The right to free speech and assembly is fundamental, and my office fully supports every citizen’s right to free speech under the First Amendment,” said Nessel, per a press release. “However, violent and criminal behavior, or acts that trample on another’s rights, cannot be tolerated. I hope today’s charges are a reminder to everyone who chooses to assemble, regardless of the cause, that the First Amendment does not provide a cover for illegal activity.”
Back in April demonstrators — mostly students and Michigan alumni, according to the AG — set up an encampment on the Diag with tents and perimeter fencing. Over the course of a month, the encampment grew to an estimated 60 tents.
University officials met with student liaisons 11 times over a 20-day period to discuss policy violations, safety concerns regarding permitting and egress, and the University’s intention to remove the encampment, the AG’s office said.
At the request of the university, the UM Fire Marshal visited and assessed the encampment in May, “observing several specific fire and safety hazards posed by the encampment including the presence of a generator and multiple significantly overloaded electrical devices.” The AG’s office says the risk was “compounded by the many densely populated tents onsite within an improvised perimeter fence of rope, metal fence posts, and chicken wire that would have inhibited any individuals’ quick escape.”
In his follow-up with UM DPSS officials, the Fire Marshal wrote, “the densely placed tents with no egress pathways and the highly combustible nature of the tent materials and other furnishings have made this encampment highly susceptible for a fire to occur and inescapable for any occupants to flee in the event of a fire. If a fire were to occur within this encampment, the human casualty rate would be catastrophic.”
The Fire Marshal also, “discovered the primary fire hydrant in front of the Shapiro Library had been vandalized to the point the hydrant is no longer serviceable.”
After a meeting with the Fire Marshal to discuss these concerns and possible remedies, those encamped refused to adopt the Fire Marshal’s recommendations to reduce the safety risks, and so the University moved to clear the Diag.
Around 5:30 a.m. on May 21 police read a dispersal order, commanding everyone in the Diag encampment to leave within 10 minutes, according to Nessel’s office. When that time had passed, authorities again read the order and “began to move through the encampment in a wall formation, brandishing their batons to force out the inhabitants.”
The officers’ path was “repeatedly blocked by demonstrators placing and throwing chairs, tables, and other items within the encampment into the path of the police.” Police moved from the south entrance of the encampment, beginning at 5:48 a.m., to North University by 6:15 a.m.
During the police’s action to clear the encampment, several demonstrators “defied orders from law enforcement to vacate the camp, and physically obstructed the police and pushed against their bodies,” Nessel’s office said.
Two demonstrators have been charged with trespassing — a maximum 30-day misdemeanor — for failing to vacate the encampment after ample time following clear lawful orders to do so and when the police action to clear the Diag was obviously underway.
Seven others have been charged with trespassing and an additional count of resisting or obstructing police, a maximum two-year felony.
The AG’s office says while many in the camp “initially refused the lawful order to vacate, or impeded the police action to some degree, criminal Resisting or Obstructing charges have been filed only against demonstrators who are alleged to have attempted to halt or push back the police by making direct contact with the officers’ bodies or physically obstruct an arrest.”
Two other people — one alumnus and another with no known affiliation with the school — have been charged for separate incidents involving a counterprotest on the Diag on April 25.
In one instance, a UM alumnus is charged with disturbing the peace, a maximum 90-day misdemeanor, for allegedly kicking over flags belonging to demonstrators and additionally attempted ethnic intimidation, a maximum one-year misdemeanor, consistent with the student’s self-professed reason for doing so, as stated to an investigating officer.
In another instance, a man allegedly took multiple flags from demonstrators, broke two, and deposited them in a nearby garbage can while traversing the Diag, for which he is charged with two counts of Malicious Destruction of Personal Property – Less than $200, a maximum 93-day misdemeanor.
Charges were filed Wednesday in 15th District Court in Washtenaw County. None of the defendants have yet been arraigned.
“The Department urges UM, and all Michigan universities, to review their policies and procedures regarding rallies and protests to ensure they are up to date and protect both freedom of speech and student safety on campus. Additionally, the Department encourages universities to consistently enforce their rules in a content-neutral way,” the AG’s press release said.
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