Protesters calling for Indiana University to divest from Israel are now demanding the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office drop a charge against an IU student arrested during an anti-war protest last week.
About two-dozen people appeared outside the Charlotte Zietlow Justice Center Friday afternoon to call for James Jones’ felony battery charge to be dropped.
Jones appeared for an initial hearing at 1 p.m. after allegedly biting a state trooper on the wrist during the first day of protests at Dunn Meadow last Thursday. Protesters have been camping out every day since to demand IU divest from Israel and to express solidarity with the people of Gaza.
An organizer with the IU Divestment Coalition who asked to be identified only as Sidd said the movement will not be intimidated by the police response.
“Rather than actually addressing our concerns, seeing the people of Palestine as people, acknowledging their complicity and their direct support for a genocide happening right now … they decided to bring in the state police to try and suppress a peaceful movement on campus,” he said.
Sidd also condemned IU for changing its policy on unapproved temporary structures, including tents, at Dunn Meadow the day before the protests began. He added he did not witness Jones’s arrest but described police’s actions as excessive and said it was an overreach for the university to call them in the first place.
Protesters left the justice center around 2 p.m. to go back to Dunn Meadow. They say they will be back for Jones’ next court date.
Read more: ISP Leader on IU protests: 'If in fact, we have to come back, then we will'
On Friday, a not guilty plea was entered on Jones' behalf. He is being represented by a public defender.
Jones is scheduled for a pretrial conference at 2 p.m. June 17 and a jury trial on Nov. 18, court records show.
He is among a total of 57 people who’ve been arrested in connection with the protests but to date is the only one who has been charged.
The prosecutor’s office says it’s still deciding whether it will file charges against the others.
