New video shows pro-Palestinian protesters at Okemos home

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — 6 News has obtained a new video from the home of University of Michigan board chair Sarah Hubbard, showing several pro-Palestinian protestors marching and chanting on her property Wednesday morning.

Protestors had packed up their encampment on the University of Michigan campus and moved it to Hubbard’s home in Okemos.

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According to Meridian Township Police, officers were called to the home in the area of Forest Hills and Greenwood Drive in Okemos around 6 a.m. Wednesday “for a report of a large gathering.”

Officers found around 40 people at the protest on and off private property. When police asked them to leave they did so peacefully, according to police. No one was arrested.

The video, recorded by Hubbard’s doorbell camera, also shows one protestor put what looks like a blood-soaked teddy bear on the step. A photo provided by Hubbard shows several similar teddy bears left on her steps, along with an empty crib and the fake corpse of a person wrapped in a sheet.

Protestors also left tents and several other fake corpses in Hubbard’s front yard, as well as a memo that they taped to her door.

“There are a lot of young children in my neighborhood, who were really fearful and didn’t know what was going on, why was this happening…it’s inappropriate for them to be coming to the private homes of public officials,” Hubbard told 6 News.

“Just yesterday we had a public meeting, where they could’ve come to make their voices heard; we had public comment. But no representatives of this group or the coalition in general did show up…we reiterated that we are not going to be divesting from anything, from Israel, related to their demands.”

The group is demanding that the university’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university insists it has no direct investments and only less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. That’s less than 0.1% of the total endowment.

In social media posts, a coalition calling for divestment acknowledged the protest and said it would “remain relentless in the struggle for a free Palestine.”

“This morning, on the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, students hand-delivered our demands to Regent Hubbard,” TAHRIR Coalition said in a post on X. “About 2 weeks ago, she laughed at students demanding divestment while she attended a party next door to our encampment.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters place fake bloody corpses at Okemos home

“The tactics used today represent a significant and dangerous escalation in the protests that have been occurring on campus,” the U-M Board of Trustees said in a statement. “Going to an individual’s private residence is intimidating behavior and, in this instance, illegal trespassing. This kind of conduct is not protected speech; it’s dangerous and unacceptable.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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