Police break up University of Michigan protest encampment

A pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan was broken up by police early Tuesday morning, weeks after it was first set up.  

The school determined the encampment was becoming a safety threat, and students refused to comply and fix the problems, Michigan spokesperson Colleen Mastony said.

“Following a May 17 inspection by the university fire marshal, who determined that if a fire were to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, and subsequent refusal by camp occupants to remove fire hazards, the university this morning removed the encampment on the Diag, an area that serves as our main quad,” Mastony said. 

But the fire hazards were not the only instances the encampment presented a disruption to the campus, she added.  

“The disregard for safety directives was the latest in a series of troubling events centered on the encampment. Individuals will continue to be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community, violate the law or disrupt university operations,” Mastony said.  

Removing the encampment occurred a week after some protesters went to the home of a university official and placed fake body bags in their yard, The Associated Press reported.  

TAHRIR Coalition, a group of student organizations that organized the encampment, denounced the use of police force and said the university put its students’ safety in jeopardy.

“This morning @SantaJOno @JordanAckerMI @RegentHubbard used ‘student safety’ as their reasoning to clear our encampment built in the name of 35,000+ Palestinian martyrs. Students have been hospitalized and arrested, a true sign of how much @UMich cares about student safety,” the coalition posted on the social platform X.

The coalition also posted videos from the scene of police using pepper spray on students to force them out of the area.

The protesters have been demanding the school divest from Israel, but the school argues its endowment has no direct ties to the country.  

“In recent days, encampment participants have also received numerous outreach attempts from U-M administrators and DPSS leadership, asking them to leave. The encampment posed safety risks, both to participants and the community at large, and its presence was in violation of policies and regulations. Its removal was important to help maintain the safety and security of the U-M campus community,” said Melissa Overton, public information officer for the Division of Public Safety and Security at the school.