Prosecutors charge 10 with failing to disperse during California protest

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors in Southern California have charged 10 people, including two professors, with failing to disperse during a pro-Palestinian protest last spring at the University of California, Irvine that led to a clash with police, officials said Wednesday.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office said those charged included two UCI professors and four students. All are due to appear in court on Oct. 16 to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges, the office said.

“The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly on any issue,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “However, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly will not be tolerated.”

Prosecutors are continuing to review evidence to determine whether charges will be filed against the remaining 40 people arrested during the May incident on campus, the statement said.

The university said in a statement that all members of the campus community are subject to “all applicable laws, policies and relevant codes of conduct while engaging in protest activities.”

In the spring, university officials said they had allowed a peaceful encampment to remain on campus even though it violated school policies, but called in police after a small group barricaded themselves inside a lecture hall, supported by a large group of community members outside. Police in riot gear who were sent to the scene made dozens of arrests.

Protest camps sprang up across the U.S. in the spring, including at University of California campuses, as students demanded that their universities cease doing business with Israel or companies they said supported the war in Gaza.

University of California, Irvine is located in central Orange County and has more than 36,000 students.