DeKalb County prosecutors are dismissing criminal charges against two people arrested at Emory University in April during protests over the Israel-Hamas war, and are giving five others the chance to have their charges dropped.
Police arrested 23 people involved in demonstrations at Emory’s campus on April 25. The incident was part of nationwide pro-Palestine protests at college campuses.
A spokesperson for the DeKalb County solicitor-general’s office said Thursday that it had decided to dismiss two of the 23 cases and send five others to its diversion program. The program allows certain defendants to have their criminal record cleared after completing community service or classes designed to prevent further offending.
The remaining cases continue to be investigated.
Public court records are available in 17 of the cases. They show misdemeanor charges against 10 men and seven women aged between 19 and 32. Of those defendants, 10 are from Atlanta. Others are from Michigan, New York, Maryland, California, Arkansas and Florida.
The court records show 15 defendants each face single counts of misdemeanor criminal trespass. A 32-year-old Florida woman is charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. And a 27-year-old Atlanta man faces three misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass, battery against a police officer and obstruction of law enforcement.
The DeKalb County solicitor-general’s office did not immediately reveal which cases are now subject to dismissal or diversion.
Emory President Gregory Fenves came under fire for what some students and professors called a “heavy-handed” crackdown on an otherwise peaceful protest. Gov. Brian Kemp signaled support for the response to campus encampments at the time.
The day of the arrests on the Emory campus, police used chemical irritants to disperse demonstrators and at least one person was stunned with a Taser during his arrest, cellphone video showed. Officers dismantled the makeshift encampment on the university’s quad, detaining 28 people and arresting 23.
Similar scenes played out at other college campuses in Georgia, including the University of Georgia.
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