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. 

The TAHRIR Coalition, which encompasses over 90 student groups fighting for the “liberation” of Gaza at the University of Michigan, appeared to be the main organizer behind the demonstration. 

The group is advocating “solidarity with freedom fighters in Palestine and revolutionaries everywhere working to dismantle global imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy,” according to its website. The pro-Palestinian student coalition wants campus leadership to divest from “Israeli apartheid and genocide,” boycott Israeli academic institutions, and abolish campus policing. 

The TAHRIR Coalition took to social media to complain following the arrests, claiming campus police had “brutally and racially targeted” protesters. Video footage of the demonstrations shows activists and officers clashing

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The school experienced similar turmoil earlier this year. In May, TAHRIR activists targeted the home of a school official and placed fake body bags and blood on her lawn. Police broke up pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the Diag the same month after activists had encamped at the student hub for four weeks. 

“Protests are welcome at the University of Michigan, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, disrupt university operations, or threaten the safety of the community,” the University of Michigan said. “The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and that we will hold individuals accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive enforcement for all.”