Police arrested multiple anti-Israel activists at a “die-in” demonstration during a University of Michigan event this week.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a demonstration during the university’s annual “Festifall” celebration, a student organization fair held at the beginning of each fall semester. Over 50 protesters who lay on the ground and pretended to be dead to illustrate deaths in Gaza were ultimately asked to disband.
“For more than an hour, they were given multiple warnings that made clear they were blocking pedestrian traffic and violating university policy,” Colleen Mastony, the university’s assistant vice president for public affairs, told the Detroit Free Press. “Most eventually dispersed although some refused to leave and, as a result, four people were arrested.”
Mastony said no students were among the four arrested Wednesday.
Protesters conducted their “die-in” demonstration at the Diag, a large open area located in the heart of the campus, as students attempted to participate in the beginning of the semester welcome week festivities.