Pirate's Cove

Actions do, in fact, sometimes have consequences

12 pro-Palestinian protesters at Stanford face felony charges

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters at Stanford University were charged with felonies Thursday after taking over a campus building last year.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced it has charged 12 people, ranging in age from 19-32, with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass.

The office said the demonstrators did hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage after they broke windows and furniture, splashed fake blood and disabled security cameras during their takeover of the facility.

“Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “There is a bright line between making a point and committing a crime. These defendants crossed the line into criminality when they broke into those offices, barricaded themselves inside, and started a calculated plan of destruction.”

The incident happened last June at Building 10 when the activists broke in and barricaded themselves inside. Items found on the protesters included food, an electric grinder, hammers, crowbars, chisels, screwdrivers, goggles, numerous straps and cables.

They FAFO’d. I’ve been through about a dozen articles on this, and none name those involved, but, KQED, the PBS station for the Bay area, notes

All 12 defendants, including eight current Stanford students, face felony charges of vandalism and conspiracy to trespass, among the most serious charges against demonstrators involved with pro-Palestinian campus protests in California last spring.

That’s the most I can find on who they are. Were they Americans? On visas? And Rosen said

“They had operational plans. They had lookouts. They were scouting out the area to see what time either uniformed police officers or private security would be around,” he said. “They had multiple layers of clothing. They brought a lot of food with them. They planned to be there for a long time.”

So, they planned their crime.

The group also spray-painted graffiti on the facade of the office with messages praising “the martyrs,” threatening death to “pigs” and police and accusing Stanford of being complicit to genocide, according to the DA’s office.

As of Thursday morning, at least four of the suspects had self-surrendered to authorities for booking, Rosen said. He noted that if convicted of the charges, they could face a maximum sentence of nearly 4 years behind bars. But he said his office did not intend to pursue jail time.

So, threatening police to boot, but, won’t pursue jail time. I guess a criminal record for felonies is the best we could expect in the Bay area.