Authorities, pro-palestinian protesters clash at Idaho Capitol. Is the group camping?
Police tore down tents and confiscated items — and got physical with protesters, video showed — as law enforcement took action against propalestinian demonstrators since last weekend, when the group won a court victory to continue its activities.
The events in Boise began Friday night when protesters marched downtown to set up an encampment east of the Capitol at the site of the former Ada County Courthouse, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The property is now owned by the state and is part of the Capitol Mall.
The tents were intended to symbolize the way Palestinian families are living in the West Bank after having their homes destroyed during Israel’s offensive this year, according to protesters.
“There’s pictures. There’s videos. There’s piles of bodies. There’s children being pulled from the rubble, kids didn’t do anything wrong,” said Sarah Lammey, 40. “I’m just asking for people to be upset about that. These people come out here and they’re more upset about the grass being killed than these children being killed.”
The day after the demonstration started, law enforcement began to clash with protesters and said that their tents would be removed from the lawn
outside the old courthouse by 6 p.m. Saturday.
Casey Parsons, an attorney with law firm The Wrest Collective, said in a phone call to the Idaho Statesman that they contacted Attorney General Raul Labrador’s office in the hopes of coming to an understanding.
Parsons said the AG’S office asserted that the protesters were illegally camping “on the premises on the basis of finding a water bottle in one of the tents, and on the basis that some of the protesters appeared to have ‘red, puffy eyes.’”
The Wrest Collective filed a motion with U.S. District Court of Idaho and was granted an emergency hearing at 5:45 p.m. — 15 minutes before police were prepared to remove the tents. At that hearing, Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill upheld a
2012 permanent injunction created by the Watters v. Otter Occupy Boise case, which held that removing symbolic tents violated the First Amendment.
People may protest with symbolic tents around the clock as long as they aren’t camping there, according to the injunction.
Winmill said the Idaho State Police would not be able to take enforcement action against the group absent some specific indicia of camping, according to Parsons.
“The judge said ‘red, puffy eyes’ did not indicate camping, since protesters had to stay awake all night to comply with the Watters injunction,” Birdie Michaels, 25, a protest participant, told the Statesman in a phone call.
Protesters said they
were then told Tuesday that they needed to leave the grassy area between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. to allow for lawn watering. The lawn is now surrounded by yellow tape and contains a sign stating, “Land Preservation. Please keep off area.”
Michaels said protesters came up with a plan to comply with the new restrictions, spending their days on the lawn and nights near the Idaho Capitol steps across the street. They spent Tuesday night near those steps.
On Wednesday, Michaels said they migrated to the steps at about 6 p.m. to do the same. Shortly after, Michaels estimated that at least 20 members of the Idaho State Police and Boise Police Department confiscated their belongings.
Idaho State Police took three awnings, tarps, three tents, a long table, a sign made of plywood, medical supplies and electronics, Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman in an email. The medical supplies and electronics were returned to their owners at the protest, Snell said.
Snell said protesters violated the Idaho Administrative Code by “camping” and creating safety hazards, by blocking the stairs and doorways with tents. Snell said he did not know what police saw as the specific indications of camping.
Labrador said police have done a “remarkable job” and that he was “confident” courts would rule in the state’s favor.
“What the protesters want to do is camp, cook, store food, and generally set up a prolonged presence on state property,” Labrador said in an emailed statement to the Statesman. “All of that poses significant health and safety risks, and none of it is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Nor is any of that related to their supposed protest related to supporting Palestinians.”
Michaels denied that protesters were camping or creating a safety hazard, and she and Parsons said no one had been arrested or cited by police.
“I have never personally seen this type of disproportionate response from ISP to a peaceful protest,” Parsons said. “These protesters are just trying to be visible and take up space. There is no violent or illegal activity taking place as far as I can tell, and they were met with a small army of Idaho State Police officers.”
In a video posted by Boise to Palestine, a Boise police officer can be seen pushing people off the sidewalk during one incident, causing a woman to fall to the ground.
Boise Police Department Spokesperson Haley Williams said Boise officers were “called to assist in keeping a safe work area for ISP as they cleared the Capitol steps of obstructions.”
“Several individuals entered the street near ISP’S work area and disregarded officers’ direction to return to the sidewalk, which led to a physical interaction with an officer,” Williams said in an email. “All officers were wearing on body video and the incident was documented according to BPD policy and procedure.”
Williams said the department would conduct an investigation into the incident.
Gov. Brad Little said he was “grateful” for the actions taken by the Idaho State Police and Department of Administration, which oversees the Capitol complex.
“Idaho cherishes and protects our First Amendment rights to speech, popular and unpopular alike, but I will not tolerate any group’s efforts to establish encampments that damage state property, create health and safety risks, and interfere with other forms of public access,” Little said in a news release.
On Thursday evening, about 30 Idaho State Police officers lined up in formation on the lawn — some in riot gear — and watched as about 20 protesters packed up their items by 7 p.m. At least 16 police vehicles, mostly from the Boise Police Department, surrounded the area.
After protesters moved their items off the lawn, officers went inside the the Capitol Annex building.