KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In May, a group of people appeared in court for the first time after they were arrested and charged with trespassing while at a Nakba Day Vigil on the University of Tennessee's campus.
Their cases were bound over to a grand jury on Monday after a preliminary hearing, according to the deputy district attorney for Knox County.
Yassin Terou, the owner of a falafel restaurant and a community leader, was among them. On May 15, he gathered with UT students and community members for the vigil. A total of 11 people were arrested. The group was arrested after university leaders said the College of Law lawn was an unauthorized spot for the group to demonstrate and gave them ten minutes to leave.
Some members refused to leave and were arrested, while others stepped off the lawn and demonstrated on a nearby sidewalk.
During Monday's hearing, several witnesses spoke including Sean Patterson, the university's chief of police. Officers were also subpoenaed to Monday's hearing, presided over by Knox County General Sessions Court Judge Judd Davis.
Patterson said he estimated up to ten University of Tennessee Police Department officers were at the vigil. He said after the arrests, the group was brought to UTPD headquarters before the police department decided to take them to the county's detention facility.
"We were there to protect the property," said Patterson during Monday's hearing.
Terou and the other people arrested during the vigil face Class-C misdemeanors, a kind of low-level charge that can result in up to 30 days in jail and fines of up to $50.
The Nakba Day Vigil was organized by the People's School for Gaza, which organized regular gatherings of students and community members to discuss Palestinian history and the ongoing Israel-Gaza Crisis. UT said the group could use a plaza near the Student Union until 10 p.m. each day through May 18, emphasizing that it could impose time, place and manner restrictions on demonstrations.
The People's School for Gaza said it organized the vigil to mourn the Palestinians killed and communities lost during the Nakba — a period following World War II when Palestinian communities were uplifted and removed during the creation of Israel.
Terou filed a complaint after his arrest, saying it aggravated existing nerve damage in his arm, causing him to go to the hospital. He also said UTPD identified him as not being affiliated with the university, despite Terou being listed as a member of the Board of Visitors on a Department of Religious Studies webpage.
UTPD closed its investigation on June 11 and said officers committed no violations of policy.
Layla Soliz was also charged and appeared in court after she was arrested for trespassing, along with her husband. She also said her religious rights were violated while in custody after she said a photo of her without her hijab was taken and posted to the Knox County Sheriff's Office's inmate database.
Background on the Israel-Gaza Crisis
More than 37,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Israeli officials said around 1,200 people died in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led raid in Southern Israel, and at least 570 Israeli soldiers have reportedly been killed since.
The ongoing Israeli offensive has also been internationally condemned, and the International Court of Justice called for Israel to prevent death and destruction after South Africa filed allegations that the country committed genocide in Gaza.
Across the U.S., protests at college campuses have also flared to show support for Palestine. At several schools nationally, police and National Guard members were called to force the demonstrations to an end.
The Oct. 7 bombing followed decades of tension, during which time the Human Rights Watch said Gazans lived in an "open-air prison." Most of the tension centers around Palestine and Gaza, an area that was divided as part of the "Nakba" — a period of displacements in the region following World War II as Israel was created.
"It remains a deeply traumatic event in their collective memory and continues to shape their struggle for justice and for their right to return to their homes," the UN said about the Nakba.
Hamas was elected to power during the mid-2000s. The United Nations said in 2019 more than half of all people in Gaza were under 18 years old, indicating they were not able to vote for Hamas when Israel declared war.
The group launched the attack on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War — causing an initial death toll that was unseen since the 1973 war between Israel, Egypt and Syria. The day after the Oct. 7 bombing, Israel declared war against Hamas and started bombarding Gaza.
The Gaza Strip was home to millions of people. The UN said more than 70% of all housing units have been destroyed, and around 80% have been destroyed in the northern area. The UN said the entire Gazan population is facing a "severe food crisis," escalating the risk of famine and especially impacting vulnerable groups. A UN Special Rapporteur for food also said Israel "has mounted a starvation campaign."
On June 21, it also said the health system in Gaza lost around 70% of its bed capacity and the volume of medical supplies entering the region could not sustain the health response. It also said medical evacuations outside Gaza were halted.
It said in April that around 86% of schools were damaged, and 72% would need at least major rehabilitation work. It also said around 1.7 million people were displaced across the Gaza Strip, with families having to move multiple times in search of safety.
Around 200 days since the start of the crisis, violence continued flaring across the region.
The UN also said Israeli settler violence was prevalent, and there were several attacks by Israeli settler groups against aid convoys heading for Gaza. It said the vehicles were reported set on fire on the evening of May 17.
Since Oct. 7, Israel has cut off much access to food, water, medicine and electricity in Gaza. On May 7, Israeli forces took control of Gaza's Rafah border crossing, prompting fears of a full-scale invasion of the city after talks in Cairo of a cease-fire with Hamas without any clear agreement.
The Pentagon said a newly built U.S. pier on the Gaza Strip could lead to new deliveries of food and supplies. Trucks carrying aid rolled into the region on May 17, according to the Associated Press, and the shipment was the first in an operation that military leaders said could scale up to 150 truckloads a day. Storms and rough seas briefly disconnected it from shore, but it was reconnected in early June.
Aid has been slow to get into Gaza, with backups of trucks waiting for Israeli inspections. The U.S. and other nations used air drops to send food into Gaza, and aid organizations said several hundred trucks of resources are needed per day to fully help the region. With the Rafah crossing captured, Israel gained full control over the entry and exit of people and goods for the first time since it withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
The UN also said on May 21 that it would suspend food distribution in Rafah due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation due to Israel's expanding military operations. It also warned that humanitarian operations across the region were nearing collapse.
On June 17, Israeli leaders said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the War Cabinet that oversaw much of the fighting in Gaza after one of its members left the government over frustrations on how Israel was handling the war. In its place, the government said Netanyahu would hold small forums for sensitive war issues, including with his security cabinet.
On June 18, he claimed U.S. leaders were withholding weapons from Israel and causing the Rafah offensive to slow. In May, President Joe Biden delayed sending heavy bombs to Israel after concerns about its killing of Gazan civilians. However, U.S. leaders said those were the only weapons delayed.
On June 21, Israel shelled tent camps outside Rafah — killing at least 25 people and wounding around 50 people, according to Gazan health officials and emergency workers. It comes less than a month after an Israeli bombing triggered a deadly fire that tore through a camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, drawing widespread international outrage — including from some of Israel’s closest allies — over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah.
