WASHINGTON: Twelve protesters were charged on Thursday with felony vandalism for their actions during a June 2024 pro-Palestinian protest at Stanford University in which demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the office of the school president.
Those charged, ranging in age from 19 to 32, entered the building and demonstrated a “conspiracy to occupy” it, prosecutors said, adding that at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. All suspects wore masks, they said. Dozens of other protesters surrounded the building and chanted: “Palestine will be free.” At the time, the university said 13 people were arrested during the protest, one police officer was injured and the building suffered “extensive” damage.
Protesters renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” in honor of Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison after months of detention.
Those charged could not immediately be reached and it was not clear if they retained legal representation.
President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from universities, including Stanford, over allegations that they failed to stop antisemitism and intimidation of Jewish students.
Protesters say their criticism of Israel’s military assault on Gaza has been wrongly conflated with antisemitism.