FBI conducts raids on homes of Pro-Palestine students in Michigan
A video posted online by a news company in Dearborn, Michigan, showed men wearing FBI vests breaking the door of a home that belongs to pro-Palestine student protesters, Middle East Eye reported on April 23rd.
The news outlet was TCD Dearborn News. The raids happened in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Canton in the homes of students from the University of Michigan, who were involved in pro-Palestine campus demonstrations, the pro-Palestine group TAHRIR Coalition said.
The Graduate Employees’ Organisation (GEO), which is a workers union, said: “In Ann Arbor, officers detained and questioned two activists, including a member of GEO,” according to Anadolu Agency. The organisation added: “In Ypsilanti, officers detained and released four individuals.”
The statement by the GEO also said that “in Canton, officers raided one residence. The officers also confiscated personal belongings from multiple residences and at least two cars.”
GEO stated that law enforcement officials were reluctant to issue search warrants. Law enforcement also declined to clarify the motives for the raids.
According to TAHRIR, all residents were temporarily detained and then freed. The incident is the most extreme move as of yet on student demonstrators in the area.
The Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has already charged at least 11 other students. In Nessel’s own words, she affirms her commitment to confronting what she characterises as antisemitism on university campuses.
Meanwhile, the US health agency, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that it will stop providing medical research funding to universities with diversity and inclusion schemes, Middle East Eye reported on April 22nd. The Trump administration has also frozen funds to Harvard and Columbia universities.
Since early May 2024, protests urging universities to divest from Israeli governmental and military actions in Gaza have accelerated.
Anadolu Agency, Middle East Eye, TCD Dearborn News
