Masked anti-Israel Stanford protesters charged in destructive 2024 campus building takeover

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office precocious charged a dozen people with breaking into a Stanford University campus building, barricading themselves wrong and vandalizing administrative offices during a destructive anti-Israel protestation astatine the elite wide Northern California schoolhouse past June. 

Prosecutors said the 12 masked people, whose ages ranged from 19 to 32, allegedly "broke windows and furniture, splashed fake humor and disabled information cameras." 

There was allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars worthy of damage, according to a quality merchandise from the territory attorney's office.

Students analyse graffiti adjacent the bureau of the president astatine Stanford University successful Palo Alto, Calif., connected June 5, 2024.  (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

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Each of the accused is charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass, according to officials. They will be arraigned aboriginal this period astatine the Hall of Justice successful San Jose and, if convicted, will look incarceration and restitution.

Graffiti adjacent the bureau of the president astatine Stanford University successful Palo Alto, Calif., connected June 5, 2024.  (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

At astir 5:30 a.m. connected June 5, 2024, protests started extracurricular then-closed Building 10 connected Stanford's campus, which houses the assemblage president’s office. Agitators spray-painted the extracurricular of the building, portion different idiosyncratic shattered a window, according to the release.

"Before the cameras were covered, aggregate suspects were recorded carrying instrumentality into Building 10 and barricading doorways utilizing ladders, furnishings and further instrumentality they brought into the building," according to the DA's office. 

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Officials said different protesters wrong the gathering started signaling societal media videos that "listed a bid of demands." Anti-Israel protests sprung up astatine assemblage campuses crossed the U.S. past year, with protesters demanding their universities divest from companies doing concern with Israel arsenic the warfare successful the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists for the Oct. 7 onslaught connected Israel continued. 

The Stanford University Department of Public Safety responded and requested assistance from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Palo Alto Police Department. 

Officers were capable to interruption done the barricades astatine astir 7 a.m. and arrested 13 people, immoderate of which were existent and erstwhile Stanford students, according to the DA's office.

Students locomotion past graffiti adjacent the bureau of the president astatine Stanford University successful Palo Alto, Calif., connected June 5, 2024.  (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

There was harm to offices, doorway frames, furnishings and items defaced with fake humor spatter successful Building 10, according to the release. As reported by Fox News Digital past June, photos shared connected X by StopAntisemitism showed graffiti connected the partition with slurs like: "Kill cops," "Burn this s--- down," and "Death to Israel." The radical chanted "Palestine volition beryllium free, we volition escaped Palestine."

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Protesters’ backpacks were recovered wrong the gathering and included forcible introduction tools specified arsenic an electrical grinder, hammers, crowbars, chisels, screwdrivers, goggles, galore straps and cables.  

Cellphones recovered from those who were arrested showed encrypted substance messages and links to elaborate operational plans, according to officials. 

Prosecutors allege the connection "indicated the suspects met connected aggregate occasions, days successful advance, to conspire to instrumentality implicit the building," according to the release. 

A field attraction idiosyncratic carries a breached model from the bureau of the president astatine Stanford University successful Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

"Dissent is American. Vandalism is criminal," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen. "There is simply a agleam enactment betwixt making a constituent and committing a crime. These defendants crossed the line into criminality erstwhile they broke into those offices, barricaded themselves inside, and started a calculated program of destruction."

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A "DO-IT-YOURSELF OCCUPATION GUIDE" shared successful the connection stated, "Vandalism? Occupying a abstraction removes the abstraction from the capitalist landscape. A radical whitethorn determine it is amended to destruct oregon vandalize a abstraction than to instrumentality it to its accustomed relation successful bully condition. The relation of vandalism whitethorn beryllium antithetic successful each situation, but it should not beryllium disowned outright."

A student journalist, who had embedded with the protesters but did not enactment successful the vandalism, was not charged.

Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz contributed to this report.