4 arrested at pro-Palestinian protests at University of Michigan

Police arrested four pro-Palestinian protesters Wednesday at the University of Michigan after a group tried to disrupt a university event, a school official said.

During a Festifall event being held Wednesday afternoon, some protesters who oppose Israel showed up at the Diag and started demonstrating. The group of about 50 protesters were asked to disperse, Colleen Mastony, assistant vice president for public affairs, told the Free Press. None of the four arrested were students, Mastony said.

"For more than an hour, they were given multiple warnings that made clear they were blocking pedestrian traffic and violating university policy," she said in a statement. "Most eventually dispersed although some refused to leave and, as a result, four people were arrested. None of the people who were arrested were students. Three were unaffiliated with the university, and the fourth is a temporary employee."

The protests and arrests are the latest conflict at the largest university in Michigan tied to the Israel-Gaza war that has resulted in thousands of deaths. In April, protesters set up a tent encampment calling upon the university to divest from Israel. In May, police shut down the camp, tore down the tents, and made some arrests.

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The university has struggled to balance the right to free speech with the rights of students and faculty to study and work.

"Protests are welcome at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, disrupt university operations, or threaten the safety of the community," Mastony said. "The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and that we will hold individuals accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive enforcement for all."

A campus activist group called the Tahrir Coalition had announced earlier it was planning a die-in demonstration at 2:30 p.m. at the Diag to illustrate deaths in Gaza.

“We will not celebrate back to school as UM invests in and funds genocide,” the group said in an Instagram post. “We are united in our demand for complete divestment."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: [email protected] or X @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 4 arrests of pro Palestinian protesters at University Michigan