From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 16, 2024
Anti-Israel protesters place fake bloody corpses outside U of Michigan official’s home
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wearing masks have pitched tents and placed fake bloody corpses outside the home of a University of Michigan board member, raising tension with the school as part of their ongoing protest against Israel amid its war in Gaza against Hamas.
Sarah Hubbard, chair of the university’s governing board, says the 6 a.m. demonstration at her home in Okemos involved 30 people.
“They approached my home and taped a letter to my front door and proceeded to erect the tents. A variety of other things were left in the front yard,” Hubbard tells The Associated Press. “They started chanting with their bullhorn and pounding on a drum in my otherwise quiet neighborhood.”
She and her husband stayed inside. Okemos is 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Ann Arbor campus.
The protesters left 30 to 45 minutes later when Meridian Township police arrived, Hubbard says. No arrests were made. Three tents and fake corpses wrapped in red-stained sheets were left behind.
Jordan Acker, another member of the Board of Regents, says someone with a face covering left a list of demands at his home at 4:40 a.m.
See more here: https://t.co/M4oyuQieWo pic.twitter.com/kzOos2T364
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) May 15, 2024
Protesters at the Ann Arbor campus have an encampment on the Diag, a prominent public space.
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.
“There’s nothing to talk about. That issue is settled,” Hubbard says.
In social media posts, a coalition calling for divestment acknowledges the protest and says it will “remain relentless in the struggle for a free Palestine.”
“Please stop complaining on Twitter and come to the encampment to actually negotiate,” the group says, referring to Hubbard.
The university says the protest at her home is not free speech. “The tactics used today represent a significant and dangerous escalation,” spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen says.
School officials have not disclosed any plans to break up the encampment on campus, which was created in April.
“We would prefer that they would leave on their own,” Hubbard says.
