Notre Dame police arrest 17 in relation to pro-Palestinian protests sweeping U.S.

Notre Dame Police made 17 arrests Thursday night related to a pro-Palestinian protest staged by students on the university's campus.

St. Joseph County Jail records show that 17 people aged 19 to 33 years old were arrested by the Notre Dame Police Department and booked into the jail in the early hours of Friday morning. The university confirmed to The Tribune that police arrested 17 people.

Of those arrested, three remained in jail through much of Friday morning for allegedly resisting law enforcement and for criminal trespassing after they reportedly refused to leave private property — Notre Dame is a private university — once police ordered them to move.

The three protesters were scheduled to appear in hearings Friday for resisting law enforcement, but that charge was dismissed and police released them from jail Friday, according to a clerk's office representative. They are to return for a June 28 court date for alleged criminal trespassing, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, according to a statement from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office.

The other 14 were released between 1:20 and 3 a.m. and were arrested only for criminal trespassing, jail records show. Their release was conditioned upon their agreement to return for a June 28 court date.

Notre Dame responds to arrests of protesters

Notre Dame confirmed to The Tribune that about 40-50 protesters gathered on campus around 5 p.m. Thursday. The demonstration began peacefully near the main entrance to campus and reportedly escalated when protesters began to shift toward the central dorm spaces, the university says. Frustrated university officials reportedly warned the protesters not to disturb students studying for final exams.

"While the University of Notre Dame welcomes students’ voices on issues and causes they care about, we have rules in place that govern the time, place, and manner of gatherings and demonstrations. This evening a small group of individuals gathered on the south side of campus without registering as required by University rules," the university said in a statement.

"After being repeatedly reminded of University rules, including rules governing disturbances during finals and study days, the group instead marched toward the central University quad which houses several dorms. After being warned again that demonstrations are not allowed during specific times, Notre Dame Police arrested several noncompliant group members."

Videos shared with WNDU, The Tribune's reporting partner, by a pro-Palestine student organization show officers arresting people late last night on Notre Dame's campus. Footage also shows the beginnings of a peaceful protest Thursday on the grassy quad near the intersection of Notre Dame Avenue and Holy Cross Drive. Participants had set up blankets, chairs and signs and planned to stay until 5:30 p.m. Friday.

The arrests follow strong crackdowns by police and university leaders on pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses around the U.S.

Protesters are demanding that their universities publicly share their investments in military contractors and divest from any support for Israel in its ongoing war with Gaza. The Israeli military, responding to an Oct. 7 attack by the militant group Hamas that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and obliterated much of the enclave's infrastructure.

Dozens of people were arrested at Indiana University after administrators changed a policy governing public assembly the night before a planned protest. Protesters at Purdue University set up encampments April 25.

Meeting between Notre Dame officials, protesters breaks down

The arrests were first reported by Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer. The Observer reports that students were arrested on "God Quad" in front of the Administration Building after a rain-soaked meeting around 9:30 p.m. with top administrators Provost John McGreevy and Scott Appleby, retiring dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs.

A statement from Occupation Free ND, the group that organized the protest, says protesters gathered peacefully for teach-ins, study sessions and reading circles. The group organized with three demands: for the university to divest from all weapons manufacturers, to begin an academic boycott of Tel Aviv University in Israel, and to dismantle a 15-minute protest rule that regulates campus protests and mandates prior approval from administration.

Mahan Mirza, a professor in the Keough School of Global Affairs, told The Tribune on Friday that he came across the protest around 5 p.m. outside the Eck Visitors Center and alerted his school's dean in an attempt to deescalate a potential conflict with a conversation. Protesters were amiable and peaceful in the early hours, Mirza said.

"The student leaders that I spoke to, among them were Jewish leaders, Palestinian Christian student leaders and Muslims," Mirza said in a phone interview. "I don't think that any one group was dominating the other. It was very diverse."

A probable cause affidavit filed by the county prosecutor's office Friday said protesters were told the demonstration could continue so long as there were no tents, no amplified sound and the protest ended by 10 p.m. That time was later amended to 9 p.m. after protesters had moved closer to student dorms.

But by the time Appleby and McGreevy arrived around 9:20 p.m., Mirza said, the situation had become tense. A smaller group of protesters had moved closer to the Administration Building, despite the warnings of officials. It was dark and rainy. People were recording videos of the encounter, Mirza said.

"There was just a lot of tension," Mirza said. "At that point, the rain-soaked summit had become a spectacle, rather than something constructive, which was originally envisioned."

Occupation Free ND's statement says protesters were met with "laughter, disrespect, and racially-targeted comments from administration officials."

The administrators "notified the students that another meeting wouldn't take place until the following month and refused to commit to a specific date or time for the meeting," the statement on behalf of protesters says. "The administration’s lack of good-faith engagement prompted students to persist with their protest."

The statement says that Notre Dame Police made arrests after 10 p.m. Occupation Free ND is demanding that charges be dismissed and students be allowed to protest peacefully on campus.

The group claims that, at the time of the arrest, students had no tents and didn't resist law enforcement. Some began chanting "no justice, no peace" when officers moved to take them into custody.

Daniel Bannoura, a doctoral candidate at Notre Dame who participated in the protest but wasn't arrested, said protesters became more agitated after police confiscated a canopy they were using as shelter from the rain. The probable cause affidavit says Notre Dame police removed one "canopy tent" the group had erected around 7:15 p.m.

In response, Bannoura said, the group moved closer to the Administration Building and demanded an in-person meeting with administrators. Protesters discussed who might be willing to stay on campus past the university's deadline and risk being arrested, Bannoura said.

"We thought that doing that would send a message that the university, rather than being willing to listen, would arrest its own students," Bannoura said.

The group had protested about a week before on April 25, Bannoura said, but that time police only removed their tents.

Bannoura said most students who were arrested Thursday night walked away with police. A probable cause affidavit confirms that several refused to move from their seated position on the quad and were carried away by police, as shown in one video recorded by a bystander.

Several Notre Dame professors and staff weigh in on arrests

A nine-member group called Notre Dame Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine condemned the university's actions in a social media post Friday afternoon. The group said it supports the students' demands for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers and end collaborations with Israeli universities "complicit in occupation, apartheid, and genocide."

"We call upon Notre Dame administrators to dismiss all charges against our students, who were demonstrating peacefully in a way consistent with the University's own long history of peaceful struggle for social justice," the group's statement reads in part.

Mirza gave credit to the administrators for agreeing to meet with protesters. He expressed regret for summoning top officials into a difficult scenario.

"Of course the university has to follow their guidelines," Mirza said. "The students feel morally obligated to violate those guidelines because they believe strongly in this cause."

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame police arrest 17 in relation to pro-Palestinian protests sweeping U.S.