The 13 pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed a Columbia University building in April will have their criminal trespassing charges dismissed if they complete six months of probation and take a class on "legal protest," reported the Columbia Spectator.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office, which first made the offer to the defendants on June 20, granted the adjournment Thursday.
The report comes a month after the DA dropped charges against 31 of the 46 Columbia University protesters arrested inside Hamilton Hall largely due to a lack of evidence.
Protesters had seized the administration building on April 30 in a major escalation as demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war spread on college campuses nationwide.
The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.
The 13 protesters who agreed Thursday to the DA's deal were not enrolled in Columbia at the time of the occupation.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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