14 indicted in UTD protest case for obstructing passageway amid free speech concerns
Nearly a year after authorities broke up a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus of The University of Texas at Dallas, indictments have been handed down by a Collin County grand jury.
UTD students and professors were among the 21 people who spent the night in the Collin County Jail.
On Thursday, the Collin County District Attorney announced that 14 of the arrested had been indicted for obstructing a passageway, a class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail.
Greg Willis said the case should not be interpreted as a prosecution of the protest itself.
"Free speech is one of our most important constitutional rights and enforcing the law is actually what keeps free speech standing strong," said Willis.
Willis said those indicted were interlocking their arms and blocking a pathway, refusing multiple commands to disperse. At least four UTD professors who were also arrested were not indicted by the grand jury.
"It's all about the evidence and it's about the law, so in that sense, [we] will treat these cases like we will any other case," said Willis. "We follow the evidence. We are fact-driven."
Students for Justice in Palestine set up an encampment in an area known as Chess Plaza.
Adwoa Asante and Dan Sullivan are the attorneys representing the 14 indicted protestors.
"The indictment has a chilling impact on political speech nationally," said Asante. "I mean, this isn't one and done. This is part of a whole array of political repression for, you know, those people of conscience in the United States that are opposed to genocide in
"And the way that they're reading that statute, it seems to me, means that the police can shut down any protest they want, anytime they want, simply by saying it's obstructing something," Sullivan said. "A plaza, a park, if you have a protest anywhere, you could inconvenience someone."
While there haven't been violent clashes with authorities around campus since the demonstrations last year, Students for Justice in Palestine continues to promote protests around campus, including one planned for May during the school's design expo.
