The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has announced that it is pressing charges against 12 pro-Palestinian protesters who allegedly barricaded themselves into the Stanford University president’s office last summer.
Around 5:30 a.m. on June 5, 13 people, most of whom were students at the university, were arrested on suspicion of breaking and entering into the president’s office building as a part of a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Charges against one of the students were dropped as the district attorney’s office determined that he had represented himself as a journalist for the school’s newspaper and did not participate in the alleged vandalism.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen held a news conference on Thursday to explain the charges and the findings of the 10-month investigation.
Rosen is arguing that the occupation was a calculated, premeditated breach that organizers planned down to the finest details.
“These 12 defendants were not simply carried away by the passion of their cause,” he said. “Conspirators planned to break into Building 10, and they broke in. They planned to commit vandalism, and they committed hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.”
The defendants allegedly poured fake blood on employee belongings, destroyed surveillance cameras, smashed a window with a hammer, pried open a door with a crowbar, and trashed the offices they occupied, according to Rosen.
At the news conference, several photos of the crime scene were on display showing a ransacked office space and damage to a doorway. In one of the crime scene photos an Israeli flag soaked in fake blood can be seen laying on a desk.
Stanford estimates that perpetrators caused at least $360,000 in damage, Rosen said.
All 12 are being charged with two counts each: felony vandalism and conspiracy to trespass. Rosen is asking each of those charged to self-surrender to law enforcement as there are warrants out for their arrest.
“The perpetrators covered the interior surveillance cameras and barricaded doorways using ladders, furniture and additional equipment,” Rosen said. “They then began splattering fake blood, trying to break into offices and recording social media videos that listed a series of demands that they wanted before they would end their occupation of Building 10.”
Police were able to break through the barriers one hour after the occupation began and then arrested those inside.
Rosen also presented photocopies of pages from a handbook — “the do-it-yourself occupation guide” — intended to direct protesters on the exact procedures to follow.
Upon executing search warrants of the defendants’ cell phones, investigators discovered that the protesters were allegedly exchanging the handbook with each other on the messaging app Signal.
The handbook includes detailed instructions on how to break into the building using a bolt cutter, angle grinder, and crowbar, according to photocopies of the book.
It also contains a written message trying to justify the vandalism and breaking into a private building.
“Vandalism? Occupying a space removes the space from the capitalist landscape. A group may decide it is better to destroy or vandalize a space than to return it to its usual role in good condition. The role of vandalism may be different in each situation, but it should not be disowned outright.”
Protesters also allegedly sent each other information on the presence of security guards while scouting the area in the hours leading up to the break in, according to prosecutors. The messages also allegedly discussed how some protesters would serve as lookouts while others broke into the building.
Some messages allegedly advised protesters to wear multiple layers of clothing and take off the layers at different points of the occupation to avoid being identified.
Eight of the 12 charged are currently Stanford students, the rest are not. Rosen said that at least four of those charged self-surrendered already on Thursday.
The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-SFBA, released a statement on Thursday condemning the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for pressing charges.
CAIR-SFBA said that the decision to press charges is a “criminalization of student free speech.”
“Their actions were a form of political expression,” said CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo in the statement. “Instead of listening to their demands for justice and accountability, our institutions have chosen repression. Prosecuting these young people with felony charges is a blatant attack on free speech.”
‘Dissent is American, vandalism is criminal’
However, Rosen emphasized that the 12 protesters crossed the legal line when it came to their right to free speech and that violent protest won’t be tolerated.
“Dissent is American, vandalism is criminal,” Rosen said. “Speech is protected by the First Amendment, vandalism is prosecuted under the penal code.”
Attempts to request comments directly from several of the 12 individuals charged were unsuccessful.
A spokesperson for Stanford University said that the decision on how to hold the 12 protesters accountable should rest with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The university has conducted its own disciplinary actions against the students allegedly involved by issuing them suspensions for two school quarters, student probation, delayed degree conferrals, and community service.
While the maximum sentence for felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass is up to three years and eight months, Rosen thinks that the alleged perpetrators should not go to prison but rather pay back the damages and do community service.
As long as each protester self-surrenders, Rosen expects that their arraignments will take place next week.
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