Texas prosecutors have dropped trespassing charges against about 80 anti-Israel activists who demonstrated on the University of Texas at Austin campus in April at the height of campus protests. UT Austin Leaders strongly condemned the decision.
Travis County Attorney Delia Garza announced that charges have been dropped for all 79 people arrested on April 29. Fifty-six people were arrested at an earlier protest on campus, but trespassing charges were dropped the following day.
This news is dozens of Anti-Israel protesters Charges against the perpetrators who occupied and barricaded themselves in a building on Columbia University’s campus in April were dropped last week.
“After reviewing all of the evidence presented, we have determined that we were unable to meet our legal burden of proving these 79 trespass crimes beyond a reasonable doubt and these cases will be dismissed,” Garza told Fox 7.
UT Austin protest descends into chaos as anti-Israel students yell at police: ‘Go home you pigs!’
University of Texas police arrested a man on campus. (Jay Janner/American Statesman)
“At the time, I expressed concern about the large number of arrests being made for minor, non-violent offenses,” Garza said.
Garza said the prosecutors’ team spent 90 hours evaluating each case before making their ruling. He said the team considered evidence, including body camera footage and hundreds of pages of crime reports, the law and concerns about violations of constitutionally protected free speech rights.
“We have a responsibility to determine whether pursuing any given case is in the interest of justice, in the interest of public safety and consistent with the values of this community,” Garza said.
UT Austin released a statement expressing the university’s dissatisfaction with the decision.
Guns confiscated from anti-Israel protesters at University of Texas at Austin, University of South Florida
“We respect the law and are deeply disappointed in the County Attorney’s actions,” the statement read, reported by Fox 11.
“The University will continue to use law enforcement and administrative tools to maintain the safety and continuity of operations for the 53,000 students studying on campus, regardless of whether the criminal justice system agrees with this effort. Free speech is welcome on campus.”
“Violation of laws and regulations will not be tolerated. Violation of laws and institutional rules should be meted out appropriate punishment, not political posturing or press conferences.”
The non-charges only apply to the trespassing case, and UT police also charged a man with illegally possessing a loaded gun on campus during the protests. Two additional charges of obstructing a highway or access road and disrupting official business during the protests are still pending, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
The Texas Department of Public Safety also arrested the professor for allegedly stealing an officer’s bike and yelling expletives, and he has since been fired by the university, the paper reported.
“Go home, you pigs!” protesters yelled at Texas State Police officers on the scene. Wearing kefir hats, protesters attempted to set up tents, as they have done on other campuses.
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Dozens of people arrested at anti-Israel protests at the University of Texas at Austin. (KTBC)
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott condemned the protests at the time as lawless and anti-Semitic.
“These protesters should be in jail,” Abbott wrote. “Anti-Semitism has no place in Texas. Period. Students who take part in hateful anti-Semitic protests at Texas public universities should be expelled.”
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard, Andrea Vacchiano and Brian Preston contributed to this report.
