Eight anti-Israel protesters who prompted hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of damages throughout a violent demonstration at Metropolis School’s campus in Higher Manhattan pleaded not responsible to an array of fees on Thursday — together with two who attacked campus public security officers.
They’re charged with housebreaking within the third diploma and different associated fees after following a conflict between protesters and police who moved in to filter an “intifada” encampment on the Metropolis School of New York this spring.
All eight defendants, most of whom appeared in court docket with face masks and keffiyeh scarves, pleaded not responsible to the costs as they have been arraigned collectively in Manhattan felony court docket.
The defendants — Nora Fayad, Amelia Fuller, Miranda Levine, Astrid Terrazas, Luis Alberto Cadena, Rudy Martinez, Jonathan Rampagoa and Jacob Gabriel — and their attorneys declined to remark.
Martinez, who’s a employees member at Guttman School, is affiliated with CUNY.
Two of the demonstrators, Rampagoa and Gabriel, are moreover charged with assault for allegedly throwing a bicycle and laptop keyboard at CCNY public security officers.
“Everybody returning to campus this fall deserves to be and really feel protected. At present’s felony indictments clarify that we are going to not hesitate to prosecute those that destroy property or commit violence at any protest when we now have the suitable details and proof,” Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg mentioned in an announcement.
Bragg mentioned his workplace has been coordinating with the NYPD and native schools forward of further pupil demonstrations anticipated this faculty 12 months and “will proceed to pursue instances that cross the road from peaceable, authorized protest into criminality.”
The eight protesters have been arrested when police descended on the Harlem campus on April 30 after college students and different exterior agitators erected a tent metropolis protesting Israel’s ongoing battle in Gaza.
Through the raucous conflict with cops, one protester hurled a flare that torched the roof of the Metropolis College of New York faculty’s administration constructing inflicting $350,000 price of harm, CUNY Chief Working Officer Hector Batista testified earlier than the Metropolis Council in Could.
Vandals prompted one other $250,000 in injury by breaking home windows, chairs and different furnishings in buildings and one other $600,000 in damages from spray-painted video surveillance cameras to keep away from detection, Batista mentioned.
With further safety measures the college was compelled to place in place, “we’re upwards of $3 million in spending,” Battista mentioned.
Every of the defendants is charged with one rely of third diploma housebreaking and one rely of tampering with bodily proof, each felonies, and misdemeanors fees for felony mischief, felony trespassing and 4 counts of possession of burglar’s instruments.
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