DETROIT — Critics of Wayne State's connections to Israel continued to protest Thursday morning, even after the university dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment that was up since late last week.

After the camp's removal around 5:30 a.m. Thursday, a group of approximately 50 protesters gathered on the sidewalk at Anthony Wayne Drive and Williams Mall to continue chanting, standing in front of more than a dozen Wayne State police officers in riot gear. The group began protesting peacefully around the block from the encampment on State Hall's lawn at 8:15 a.m.

Four protesters were detained, including one protester who broke off from the group and attempted to take down police tape. It was unclear why the other three were detained.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents Detroit, joined the protesters around 8:30 a.m., angrily confronting a police officer about ripping off one protester's hijab, or head scarf.

“You guys ripped a hijab off? They’re kids!” she told campus police. "...No amount of training is going to teach you guys not to take a scarf off. Know the diversity of your campus.”

The encampment was dismantled early Thursday, largely for safety reasons, university officials said.

Wayne State President Kimberly Andrews Espy said university police announced to occupants at about 5:30 a.m. that they needed to gather their belongings and leave. Police told occupants to go and then used "an amplified sound system" to make sure the announcement was heard, said a university spokesman.

"After ongoing consultation with the Board of Governors, university leadership, and leaders in the community — and after many good-faith efforts to reach a different conclusion — this was the right time to take this necessary step," said Espy in a statement Thursday morning.

Espy said the encampment presented legal, health and safety, and operational challenges for the university's community since protestors established it on May 23.

"The encampment also created an environment of exclusion — one in which some members of our campus community felt unwelcome and unable to fully participate in campus life," Espy said.

Ali Hassan, president of Wayne State University's Muslim Coalition, declined to comment on the camp's removal until a press conference later this morning.

But Sahar Faraj, a Palestinian protester and Wayne State alum, encouraged protesters to scrutinize school officials with direct ties to Israel.She said protesters are continuing to demand that university administrators disclose the school’s investments in companies with ties to Israel.

Camp removed

By 7:40, no trace of the encampment remained on State Hall's lawn, except for a painted boulder that read "Free Palestine."

One protester accused the university of sticking its police on occupants "at 5:30 when they were most vulnerable."

Luay Abuelenain, 55, of Dearborn said his niece, wife and daughter were all detained by Wayne State police after the encampment was removed. His niece is the one who had her hijab ripped off.

"No one is listening," he said. "When is it enough?"

Remote operations

Espy, meanwhile, said campus operations will remain remote Thursday.

"We will announce tomorrow’s operations later today," she said.

The group of protestors set up the encampment on the lawn of Wayne State's State Hall on May 23. It came days after a similar camp at the University of Michigan set up in late April was removed.

Wayne State's protestors vowed to keep the encampment in place until the university met multiple demands, including that it fully disclose its investments, including index fund investments not included in public reports; its divestment of the SSgA S&P 500 index, which includes weapons manufacturers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and General Dynamics; and guarantee university police officials will not travel to Israel as they did in 2019.

Protesters also said they wanted the school to develop policies to protect student protesters; establish legal and financial protections for Palestinian students, especially those with an international visa; create scholarships and fellowships for Palestinians and Gazans to study at WSU; and call for a cease-fire in Gaza as a university and acknowledge the U.S. and Israel are carrying out genocide against Palestinians.

Before the camp's removal, Espy said university leaders engaged with encampment leaders, stressing that the group was trespassing.

"In each conversation, we reiterated that the occupants were trespassing on university property and we asked that the encampment be removed," she said in a statement. "No individual or group is permitted to claim campus property for their own use and deny others access to that property."

On Tuesday, Wayne State University officials said the school was shifting to remote operations effective immediately because the pro-Palestinian encampment posed "an ongoing public safety issue." Protesters said the move was "ridiculous."

On Monday, Tlaib called on the university president and Board of Governors to negotiate a settlement.

-------

©2024 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.