10 protesters charged for failing to leave UC Irvine while police cleared pro-Palestinian encampment
The Orange County District Attorney charged 10 protesters on Wednesday for failing to leave UC Irvine while police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment last May.
"The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly on any issue," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "However, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly will not be tolerated."
Prosecutors charged nine of the defendants with a misdemeanor count of failure to disperse at the scene of a riot. Along with the single count of failure to disperse, The District Attorney's office charged a 50-year-old man from Irvine with two additional misdemeanors: resisting a peace officer with the threat of violence and resisting arrest.
Spitzer's office said they are reviewing evidence for 40 more people arrested after police issued dispersal orders.
The demonstration happened on May 15 after demonstrators surrounded a lecture hall near the encampment, prompting the university administration to call law enforcement to the campus. At the time, UC Irvine's Chancellor Howard Gillman stated that the administration had exhausted all options "before resorting to police intervention."
"We call on DA Spitzer to drop charges filed against non-violent students, faculty, and community members who participated in pro-Palestinian protests and were arrested at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at UC Irvine last May," ACLU attorney Jonathan Markovitz said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies across Orange County responded to the university to assist the UC Police Department. Police spent three hours trying to break up the protest, arresting nearly 50 people in the process. In all, law enforcement arrested 26 students, two faculty members and 19 people not affiliated with the university.
The Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR-LA, denounced the charges and called the misdemeanors a "nationwide effort by law enforcement, elected officials and universities" to stop "pro-Palestinian activism on campus."
"We urge the OCDA's office to drop the charges against the students, faculty, and community members who participated in pro-Palestine protests at UCI," CAIR-LA legal director Amr Shabaik said. "The individuals who participated in these peaceful demonstrations were simply advocating for justice and the protection of civilians in Gaza."