UT protesters indicted for anti-Israel encampment, defense blames 'Trump era'
University of Tennessee anti-Israel protestors arrested following a 2024 demonstration have been indicted by a grand jury.
The indictment comes more than a year after protesters were arrested during an anti-Israel demonstration on UT Knoxville’s campus.
Twelve anti-Israel protesters arrested during a 2024 demonstration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) have been indicted by a grand jury in Knox County, Tennessee.
The protesters were charged with criminal trespass for establishing an encampment on campus during a protest in observance of “Nakba Day” on May 15, 2024. Anti-Israel advocates consider “Nakba Day” to be the anniversary of Palestinian displacement following the 1948 Arab-Israel war.
Under Tennessee law, camping on public property without authorization can carry a fine of $50 and up to 30 days in jail.
Reporting by the Tennessee Lookout highlights that the indictment comes more than a year after the arrests. The arraignment hearings are scheduled for July.
Protestors’ defense attorneys have characterized the charges as politically motivated.
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“I guess, like everything else in the era of Trump, the message they’re trying to send is that the First Amendment is dead,” one lawyer told the Tennessee Lookout. Another attorney asserted that, “None of our clients want to plead guilty because they don’t believe they broke the law, and we don’t believe they broke the law.”
The attorneys plan to seek a jury trial and argue that the enforcement was “content-based discrimination” because the demonstration targeted Israel.
Following the indictments, two of the protesters filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Tennessee trustees, the Tennessee Board of Regents, and UT System President Randy Boyd, according to Knox News.
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Filed on the one-year anniversary of their arrest, the lawsuit alleges that the university violated students’ constitutional rights by instituting “free-expression-black-out-hours of the day,” which the plaintiffs claim was a direct factor in their arrests.
UTK’s enforcement action was grounded in a 2022 state law prohibiting unauthorized camping on public property. The statute defines “camping” as erecting or using temporary shelters for living activities such as sleeping or preparing to sleep.
Despite the state law, the plaintiffs argue that their arrests represent a double standard. Their legal defense echoes broader concerns that left-leaning campus activists are treated leniently, while those expressing controversial or conservative views are disproportionately targeted.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has not publicly commented on the indictment or the lawsuit.
Campus Reform reached out to UTK for a statement. This article will be updated accordingly.
