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Of the 46 pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall during the April demonstrations, 31 had the charges against them dropped.
The charges were dismissed for “lack of evidence.” Prosecutors had agreed to drop the charges on the 15 other protesters if they stayed out of trouble for six months. But they want to go to court and perform, so they turned down the offer of clemency and the judge scheduled their next court date for July 25.
The protesters arrested at Hamilton Hall were charged with trespassing, but their lack of criminal history and the “extremely limited video and security footage” available to prosecutors made investigating the crime too difficult, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Stephen Millan.
What about the vandalism? Hamilton Hall was well and truly trashed. What about the threats and assaults on Jewish students? No arrests have been made, much less crimes prosecuted.
At a news conference after the hearing, some of them, flanked by supporters, said they rejected the prosecutors’ conditional dismissal to show solidarity with those facing the most extreme repression across the pro-Palestinian movement.
