SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Attorney’s Office decided not to file charges against 64 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at a camp on The UC San Diego campus in May.

In an email to ABC 10News, Andrew Sharp, director of communications for the city attorney, wrote that prosecutors came to this conclusion after reviewing “substantial body camera footage and all other available evidence” over the past five months.

Sharp says the city attorney may reconsider whether to file charges within the statute of limitations, as he does with all other cases he reviews.

None of the people arrested at the camp were arrested for violence, harassment, threats, or possession of illegal substances or weapons, the email states.

“As prosecutors, we must conclude that we can prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt before filing charges,” Sharp says. “We are concerned that the community has not received accurate information regarding this Office’s review of UCSD cases.”
Attorneys for the student protesters pointed to evidentiary challenges they used during UCSD disciplinary proceedings and indicated they would use them again in potential criminal proceedings, the email states.

The city attorney’s office. referenced a KPBS storywhich indicated that the arrest report the university used against protesters appeared to have been copied and pasted across the board. KPBS broke down the process for school disciplinary hearings; UCSD would have to call a witness to support any written reports used against the students, and the students would have the opportunity to question them.

KPBS reported that in one of the cases, the witness called against a student was a campus police officer; However, it was not the officer who made the arrest and the student yelled at him during the crossing.
Sharp says the city attorney’s office told the defense attorney it could reopen the cases before the one-year statute of limitations if “criminal activity occurs.”

The arrests occurred on the morning of May 6, when police officers dismantled tents at the Gaza Solidarity camp on the UCSD campus. Of the 64 people arrested, 40 were students and the rest were not affiliated with the university, UCSD told 10News at the time.

The students faced disciplinary action from the university for their participation in the protest.

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