Rally demands officials drop charges against pro-Palestinian protesters in Ann Arbor

U of M student Sammie Lewis speaking at "Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

With Palestinian flags waving in the breeze, and numerous passing vehicles honking in support. approximately 100 people rallied Wednesday afternoon outside the Washtenaw County Courthouse demanding that charges be dropped against pro-Palestinian protestors.

The target of the protest was Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, whose office announced felony charges last week against four individuals for allegedly assaulting police officers during a Nov. 17 sit-in at University of Michigan President Santa Ono’s office. 

Then on Tuesday, four people were arrested by campus police after officers began clearing out a protest encampment from the Diag just before 6 a.m. The four were later released without being charged, although officials said charges were still pending.

“Eli Savit and [Chief Assistant Prosecutor] Victoria Burton-Harris are enabling the Regents and Santa Ono to unleash increasing levels of violence against their own students and communities,” said Jared Eno, a graduate student and member of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). 

“This is especially egregious because both Savit and Burton-Harris promised to reform the criminal legal system for the better when they were campaigning for these offices. Both have spoken out in support of Palestine in the past. But now that they are in power, Savit and Burton-Harris are not only breaking their promises and betraying their constituents, they are doing so to protect the university’s investments in genocide and apartheid.”

Eno also enumerated the demands of the protestors, starting with a complete divestment from Israeli companies and boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but also a “people’s audit” of the university’s investments and its financial decisions and, finally, the abolition of campus policing with those funds instead being reallocated to an unarmed public safety alternative.

That last demand was especially timely, according to Eno, considering their version of events from Tuesday morning.

“At roughly 5:45 yesterday morning, campus police in riot gear invaded the camp. The cops demolished the camp with tactics straight from the Israeli occupation forces handbook. They assaulted and repeatedly pepper sprayed protesters. They hospitalized at least three people and violently detained four,” he said. 

One of those who said they had been injured when police moved in Tuesday and removed the protestors was student Sammie Lewis, who had been at the encampment from the beginning.

“I had batons hitting my chest and my throat,” they said. “These officers of the law were overzealous and trigger happy with the pepper spray. I was sprayed two or three times. One of those times which was quite targeted as an officer held the spray on my face, and moved up and down my body.”

Lewis, who was wearing a sling, also claimed to have been thrown to the ground and trampled by officers, injuring their arm and wrist.

“Yesterday, the school, the police, and the prosecutors tried to destroy our camp and our efforts to organize, but we are the people of that camp, and the solidarity that we built in these 30 days is unbreakable. We will keep fighting, and we will win. Free Palestine and drop the charges,” said Lewis to loud applause.

The Michigan Advance asked Melissa Overton, spokesperson for U of M’s Division of Public Safety and Security (DPSS), to comment on the students’ allegations. 

“The four arrested were arrested and turned over to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, then released pending the case being submitted to the prosecutor’s office.  I cannot release any details on the incident since it is an open investigation,” said Overton.  

Also speaking at the rally was Zainab Hakim, a recent graduate who participated in both the protest encampment as well as the sit-in at the administration building on Nov. 17. Hakim said the point of both of those protests was to meet face-to-face with university officials to directly discuss their demands.

“Instead of meeting us yesterday, the university decided to send pigs to assault students and destroy the encampment,” she said. “This is far from the first time we’ve experienced violence at the hands of the police and the board of regents. On November 17th, 40 students were arrested for an act of civil disobedience. We entered the Ruthven Building, the center of campus administration, seeking, as we have for 22 years, to discuss divestment with the president and with the board of regions. Instead of meeting with us and instead of moving towards divesting from genocide and settler colonialism, they called in police from 10 precincts to brutalize and arrest us.”

The rally organizers reiterated numerous times that Savit’s decision to charge the sit-in participants was a violation of the progressive agenda he ran in 2020 when he was first elected.

“The reality is that the police exist to ensure that people in power can commit heinous acts without impunity,” said recent graduate Brian Geiringer, also a GEO member. “In the case of the University of Michigan, the DPSS exists so that the university can continue to keep its $6 billion invested in Israeli genocide without impunity. I was a fool for thinking a prosecutor might care about that. I would ask you all if there was police violence yesterday morning, but I don’t want to offend you.”

Jared Eno, member of U of M's Graduate Employees Organization, speaking at "Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

"Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

"Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

"Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

Zainab Hakim, recent U of M graduate, speaking at "Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

Washtenaw County Courthouse | Jon King

Brian Geiringer, member of U of M's Graduate Employees Organization, speaking at "Drop the Charges" rally in Ann Arbor. May 22, 2024 | Jon King

Savit told the Advance he couldn’t comment on pending legal matters, and instead referred to the press release from his office that announced the charges, which stated that the actions of the four who were charged went “far beyond” protected speech.

“No matter the context, the First Amendment does not protect assaultive conduct. Nor would denying charges within this category be in the interests of justice,” stated the release. “Intentional assaultive behavior towards officers — or sustained physical obstruction of the performance of their duties — crosses every conceivable line that might be drawn.”

As to the university’s endowment, officials have insisted that the amount connected to Israel is small, and because it is in mutual funds, it is nearly impossible to separate out.

Sarah Hubbard, chair of the Board of Regents, told the Advance last week after demonstrators appeared outside her home, that the divestment issue has already been discussed and indirect investments in companies based in Israel are estimated to be less than .1% of the university’s approximately $18 billion endowment.

“Like most Americans do now with 401(k)s, our investments in the endowment are largely in funds, and funds are managed by private managers who are really smart about this stuff and do the research and figure out what the best companies are that are going to have the best return on the dollar, again so that return can go to supporting scholarships on our campus,” she said. “We don’t control that. We hire the fund managers to help us find the best return.”

Eno closed out Wednesday’s rally with an exhortation for people to keep up the pressure on the various authorities that their movement will not be deterred.

“Let’s keep showing the regents, Eli Savit and Victoria Burton-Harris, that we mean business, and we will not stop,” he said.

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