Protestors plan to sue UB following arrests at pro-Palestine demonstration

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- A group of pro-Palestine protestors arrested in May on the University at Buffalo's North Campus plan to sue. The attorney representing the handful of demonstrators said his clients' constitutional rights were violated. 

Buffalo attorney Robert Corp is representing the demonstrators who plan to take legal action. In July, Corp made two legal filings to give local law enforcement and UB a heads up that a lawsuit will soon be headed their way.

What began as a pro-Palestine demonstration on May 1 on UB’s North Campus ended with the arrest of 15 people. UB claimed they violated its picketing and assembling policy, which includes rules prohibiting overnight assemblies.

Corp represents nine people he says were simply peacefully protesting.

“This wasn't similar to some of the other universities that went viral across the country, with folks taking over private buildings and shutting down campuses and shutting down classes for weeks and jeopardizing exam schedules, nothing like that was going on,” Corp said.

Several local law enforcement agencies are named in the notice of claim that was filed back in July. In addition, a notice of intention to file claim names UB, among others.

Corp claims his clients’ constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly were violated.  

“No one's resisting arrest, no one was being violent on campus. Each of the folks were violently apprehended,” Corp said. “Many of them were thrown down, dogpiled by the officers, punched and kicked. We had the police knock a hijab off a young woman who was not even part of the demonstration.”

A UB spokesperson told WIVB News 4 that the school doesn't comment on pending litigation. 

At the time the demonstration was broken up, News 4 was told the university believed protestors were planning to reestablish an overnight encampment. 

“I don't think it's possibly the intent or purpose or real reading of overnight assemblies to mean 8:20, 8:22 p.m., is overnight,” Corp said. “If it became dusk at 8:20, that doesn't mean that it was overnight at 8:20.”

Following the arrests, more than 300 UB faculty signed a letter calling on school leaders to amend its assembly policies. 

UB’s new rules dictating time, place and manner are now under a 30-day comment and review period.