A protest at the University of Michigan’s “Festifall” celebration turned confrontational on Wednesday, resulting in the arrest of four anti-Israel activists. The demonstration, which was organized by the TAHRIR Coalition, a pro-Palestinian student group, aimed to draw attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the university’s ties to Israel.
The protesters, who numbered over 50, staged a “die-in” in the Diag, a central area of the campus, where they lay on the ground to symbolize the deaths in Gaza. However, university officials said the protesters were blocking pedestrian traffic and violating university policy, and were given multiple warnings to disperse.
According to Colleen Mastony, the university’s assistant vice president for public affairs, the protesters were given over an hour to comply with the warnings, but some refused to leave, leading to the arrests. Mastony noted that none of the individuals arrested were students.
The TAHRIR Coalition, which represents over 90 student groups, is advocating for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel, boycott Israeli academic institutions, and abolish campus policing. The group’s website states that it is fighting for the “liberation” of Gaza and “solidarity with freedom fighters in Palestine and revolutionaries everywhere working to dismantle global imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy.”
Following the arrests, the TAHRIR Coalition took to social media to claim that campus police had “brutally and racially targeted” the protesters. However, video footage of the demonstration shows a clash between activists and officers.
This is not the first time the university has experienced turmoil related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In May, TAHRIR activists targeted the home of a university official, leaving fake body bags and blood on her lawn. The same month, police broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Diag after activists had camped out in the area for four weeks.
The University of Michigan released a statement saying that while protests are welcome on campus, they must not infringe on the rights of others, disrupt university operations, or threaten community safety. The university vowed to enforce its policies related to protests and hold individuals accountable for their actions.
