A pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan was dismantled by police Tuesday morning, weeks after it was first set up.
The school determined the camp was becoming a safety threat and students refused to comply and resolve the issues, Michigan spokeswoman Colleen Mastony said.
“Following an inspection conducted on May 17 by the university’s fire department, which determined that if a fire occurred, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, and the subsequent refusal of the camp’s occupants to remove fire hazards, the university This morning removed the camp on the Diag, an area that serves as our main quadrant,” Mastony said.
But fire risks were not the only cases in which the camp posed a disruption to the campus, he added.
“The disregard for safety guidelines was the latest in a series of worrying developments centered on the camp. Individuals will continue to be welcome to protest as they always have at the University of Michigan, as long as such protests do not infringe on the rights of others, endanger our community, violate the law or disrupt university operations,” said Mastony .
The camp’s removal came a week after some protesters went to the home of a university employee and placed fake body bags in his yard, the Associated Press reported.
The TAHRIR Coalition, a group of student organizations that organized the camp, denounced the use of police force and said the university was putting the safety of its students at risk.
“This morning @SantaJOno @JordanAckerMI @RegentHubbard they used ‘student safety’ as their reasoning for clearing our camp built in the name of over 35,000 Palestinian martyrs. Students were hospitalized and arrested, a true sign of how much @UMich is concerned about the safety of students”, the coalition posted on X.
The coalition also published videos of the scene in which police used pepper spray against students to force them to leave the area.
Protesters have demanded the school’s divestment from Israel, but the school argues that its endowment has no direct links to the country.
“In recent days, camp participants have also received numerous outreach attempts from UM administrators and DPSS leadership asking them to leave. The camp posed safety risks for both participants and the broader community, and its presence violated policies and regulations. His removal was important to help keep the UM campus community safe,” said Melissa Overton, public information officer for the school’s Division of Public Safety.
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