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Minneapolis: Pretrial hearing packed, demanding charges be dropped against campus pro-Palestine protester

By staff

Protesters pack pretrial hearing demanding felony charge against pro-Palestine protest be dropped.

Minneapolis, MN – On January 17, supporters held a press conference and packed the room for Robyn Harbison’s pre-trial hearing. He is currently facing a fourth degree felony assault charge after his arrest alongside ten other protestors at the occupation of Morrill Hall at the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (UMN SDS) was protesting the university’s continued refusal to divest from Israel. Protesters renamed the building to Halimy Hall, after Palestinian student killed by Israel in August 2023.

At the press conference after the rally, several speakers from organizations in the Twin Cities , such as UMN SDS, Minnesota Abortion Action Committee, and Women Against Military Madness spoke out against the unjust political repression being faced by the arrestees, most of whom are current students at the University of Minnesota.

Jess Sundin from Twin Cities Coalition for Justice said about the police response to the Halimy Hall protest, “It is the job of the police to uphold the current status quo. They are violently arresting students, throwing them to the ground and setting bogus charges against them,” adding that the police and the system, “have a vested interest in continuing the genocide.”

Harbison’s trial date has been set for May 5.

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