Several dozen activists and University of Michigan students protested in front of a Washtenaw County courthouse Wednesday. They demanded that no charges be filed against four people who were arrested Tuesday as U of M police cleared an encampment on the university's Diag.
The rally was organized by the Tahrir Coalition, which describes itself as a collective of 81 student organizations protesting the university's financial ties to companies connected to Israel's war in Gaza.
The coalition was also one of the groups organizing the encampment at the Michigan Diag. Four people were arrested when police cleared the encampment. Protestors called for Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit and Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Victoria Burton-Harris to avoid charging them.
"We will not accept the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine," said Jared Eno, representing Tahrir. "We will not accept the gaslighting that poses armed police as the victims, and those protesting against genocide as dangerous aggressors. We will not accept that."
Eno said the group was made up of students and community members, and that those arrested had been released and were not currently in jail.
University spokesperson Colleen Mastony said in a statement that U of M "has always recognized the importance of free speech and expression," but the encampment was posing fire safety concerns, and "the disregard for safety directives was the latest in a series of troubling events centered on the encampment."
A spokesperson with the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said that no police report or charge requests had been submitted by Wednesday afternoon.
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