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Who was arrested during latest protest at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo?

May 24, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

For the second time this year, a pro-Palestinian protest at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo led to multiple arrests. Officers arrested eight people during Thursday’s protest including four students, one professor and three people unrelated to the campus.

At 7:15 a.m., several callers reported a group of students blocking the California Boulevard entrance to Cal Poly, according to Matt Lazier, Cal Poly media relations director. Aided by SLO police officers and SLO County sheriff deputies, Cal Poly police officers arrived to find wooden barricades and three students chained together in the roadway. There were a total of 15 to 20 people involved in the protest.

“Police issued a dispersal order, and some of the protesters did not comply, which is what led to arrests being made,” Lazier said.

Of those arrested, six were booked in the San Luis Obispo County Jail while two were arrested, cited and released.

Jay Erker

  • Jay Erker, 44, lecturer in the chemistry & biochemistry department, charged with obstructing an officer
  • Mohamed Cheour, 25, charged with resisting arrest, obstructing the free movement of a person and two felonies related to removing a person from police custody
  • Alejandro Bupara, 29, charged with remaining at an unlawful assembly after an order to disperse
  • Jade Pinney, 28, charged with remaining at an unlawful assembly after order to disperse
  • Theodore Lee, 21, charged with obstructing the free movement of a person
  • Alexis Barksdale, 24, charged with obstructing the free movement of a person
  • Barbara Wildman, charged with obstructing a roadway
  • Henry Miller, charged with obstructing a roadway

The protestors demands included divest from any companies profiting from the war, drop all charges against student protestors and support a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Regarding divestment, Cal Poly does not have a place in boycotting/divesting from certain countries. International boycotts and divestment are inherently political and often involve complex and historic geopolitical issues,” according to Lazier. “The role of the university is to serve as a content-neutral space for the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and discourse; the university is not a political body, and its role is not to create public policy and foreign affairs strategies.”

Furthermore, Cal Poly administration does not have the ability to drop charges filed by the SLO County District Attorney’s Office against protesters.

Bupara is already facing six misdemeanor charges for battery of a peace officer related to a pro-Palestinian protest at Cal Poly on Jan. 23 in which eight people were arrested. He has a pre-trial conference on the battery charges scheduled for July 11.

Also arrested at the Jan. 23 protest, Cal Poly professor Shanae Aurora Martínez, 38, is charged with battery of a peace officer. She is scheduled for a further arraignment regarding the battery charge on July 11.

Martínez, an assistant professor of English specializing in Indigenous literatures, is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on June 10 regarding a driving under the influence charge.

 


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At least this protest wasn’t as bad as that time Trump supporters stormed the Capitol:/ Ask Pence- he remembers.


-4

I stand with Israel.


After October 7, it is hard to imagine any educated person standing with Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Although just a tiny slice of the Cal Poly student body, it is alarming that these students act with such idiocy, colleges are supposed to be places of critical thought.


These young people are what admitted communist Noam Chomsky called ‘useful idiots’, and they have been duped by their liberal professors into supporting a terrorist group over a free and democratic Israel.


The great majority of Americans understand Israel is our best ally in a troubled land.


49

The “admitted communist” Noam Chomsky is an anarchist, which you would have gathered, had you taken time to read his work. “Useful Idiot” is a phrase commonly attributed to Lenin, though its actual origin is unknown.


-23

He’s and anarchist, and libertarian socialist. So, yes, a communist who loudly and proudly hates America and all she stands for.


The fact that he is celebrated in his twisted rhetoric with such fan fare by his loyal followers such as yourself, is why he does so here, in America, where he can’t be slammed by the government…..like in Russia.


21

So what. It’s allowed in America. And with all your mudslinging, you forgot to call him anti-semite..


6

Dude, perhaps looking up the definition of those terms might be of some help here. “Socialist” does NOT mean the same thing as “communist” and definitely not the same thing as “anarchist”. So, lumping them all together as one thing is not an indication of actual education on the topic. Even some counties that claim to be “socialist”, such as Russia and China, are far from practicing socialism, or even actual communism, as it is outlined. They are actually totalitarians. And the democratic socialists of Europe, who enjoy a much higher standard of living than here in America, free speech and all, are by no means “communists” in any sense of the word.


Not that you appear to care. . The point of your post appears to be to slur a man you clearly don’t understand. But, ya know, go for it. As you pointed out, America, at present, still has free speech.


0

So…you stand for genocide and apartheid. Look, these folks are not Pro-hamas, and the LOBBY tries to paint them as hamas supporters…which is BS. They are anti-genocide….better than you. And YOU are a useful idiot-duped by a terroist regime and a LOBBY which pours millions of dollars to control our government.


-17

I sense your frustration. But those who are making the comments are the same ones who support things like “Citizens United”, which allows corporate globalist interests to pour unlimited money into our elections and the messages we receive from corporate monopolized media. Pays corrupt actors on both sides of the isle. So, not likely they are going to wise up any time soon. Those bought and paid for “representatives” tell them what to think and they yum it up.


If they are told “Genocide is good, protesting the wholesale killing of women and children is bad”, they go with it.


Ya, they consider it more important to bash the “libs”, so, sadly, don’t expect anything to improve any time soon.


-6

The students, to be more precise, are standing up against GENOCIDE, not Israelis. If you approve of the mass killings of tens of thousands of innocent women and children over the actions of a terrorist group, what does that make you? You might want to rethink the position some group told you to take on that. Actual critical thought.


And a bit of studying of definitions would be in order as well. Being precise when critiquing someone is the difference between expressing an opinion and simply blathering slurs for effect with the also undereducated.


-6

“two felonies related to removing a person from police custody”


That used to be called “Lynching”.


I wonder what they are calling it now.


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