Protesters arrested at consulate | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday for trespassing after they occupied the lobby of a San Francisco building that houses the Israeli consulate. Replace the entire second paragraph with this: Police bound the protesters’ hands with zip ties, put them in police cars and drove them away.

Officers arrested 69 people who refused to leave the building, issued them citations and released them from the San Francisco County Jail, San Francisco police said in a statement. Another protester was cited on the same charge and released at the scene, it said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were arrested, but Associated Press reporters saw police handcuffing about 50 people with zip ties before loading them into police cars and driving away.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters entered the building on Monday and occupied it for several hours. The protesters attached signs to the building’s entrance doors demanding an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Police officers warned protesters several times and asked them to leave the area before advancing and beginning to arrest people, San Francisco police said in a statement.

By late afternoon, about five demonstrators were still in the building while officers outside processed the arrested people.

Marco Sermoneta, Israel’s consul general in the Pacific Northwest, said protesters arrived at the high-rise in the financial district around 9 a.m. but did not enter the consulate’s offices. He said his office had informed people they might have to change their appointments.

San Francisco police officers stood guard outside the building and told an AP journalist that it was not open to the public.

On Monday, protesters told the San Francisco Chronicle they would not leave the building until forced to do so. Police blocked the building’s front doors and ordered protesters to leave. Protesters could be heard chanting inside.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian graffiti sprayed on the exterior of a Michigan law firm is being investigated as a hate crime, police in a Detroit suburb said Monday.

Jordan Acker, a regent and attorney at the University of Michigan, called the vandalism “anti-Semitic” and said employees of the Southfield law firm Goodman Acker discovered it Monday morning.

Red paint splatters were left on the Goodman Acker sign above the building’s doors. “FREE PALESTINE” was sprayed in black paint on the building’s walls, while “DIVEST NOW” and “UM KILLS” – a reference to the University of Michigan – were sprayed in red paint on at least one window and a sidewalk.

According to Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren, investigators believe the graffiti was left between 1:39 a.m. and 1:46 a.m. Monday. The FBI and other agencies are assisting in the investigation.

“Don’t assume that attacking individual Jewish officials is anti-Semitism,” Acker, who is Jewish himself, told reporters.

“This has nothing to do with Palestine or the war in Gaza or anything else,” Acker continued. “This is a message to scare Jews. I am not the target here today because I am a ruler. I am the target because I am a Jew.”

Acker was elected to the University Council in 2018 and is one of eight regents. Other council members have also been the target of protests recently.

Protest camps have sprung up in the United States and Europe in recent weeks, with students demanding that their universities stop doing business with Israel or with companies they believe support the country’s war in Gaza. Organizers want to amplify calls for an end to Israel’s war against Hamas, which they describe as genocide against Palestinians.

Information for this article was contributed by Corey Williams of The Associated Press.