Pro-Palestinian protesters place fake bloody corpses at home of University of Michigan official

Pro-Palestinian protesters escalate tensions by demonstrating at university board member's home over Israel investments, raising concerns.

Pro-Palestinian protesters wearing masks pitched tents and placed fake bloody corpses outside the home of a University of Michigan board member, raising tension with the school.

Sarah Hubbard, chair of the university’s governing board, said the 6 am demonstration at her home in Okemos on Wednesday involved 30 people.

“They approached my home and taped a letter to my front door and proceeded to erect the tents. A variety of other things were left in the front yard,” Ms. Hubbard told The Associated Press. “They started chanting with their bullhorn and pounding on a drum in my otherwise quiet neighbourhood.” She and her husband stayed inside. Okemos is 100 km from the Ann Arbor campus.

The protesters left 30 to 45 minutes later when Meridian Township police arrived, Ms. Hubbard said. No arrests were made. Three tents and fake corpses wrapped in sheets were left behind.

Protesters at the Ann Arbor campus have an encampment on the Diag, a prominent public space.

The group is demanding that the university’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university insists it has no direct investments, only less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. That’s less than 0.1% of the total endowment.

“There’s nothing to talk about. That issue is settled,” Ms. Hubbard said.