KNOX COUNTY AUTHORITIES NOT ACTING LIKE L.A. OR NYC: Grand jury indicts Yassin Terou, 11 others more than a year after UT protests calling for Gaza ceasefire. “Yassin Terou, who owns Yassin’s Falafel House in Knoxville, and nine others are facing criminal trespassing charges for participating in the ‘Nakba Day Vigil’ on May 15, 2024, at UT’s campus. UT police cuffed Terou and others outside the law school after a group participating in the vigil was warned they were in an unauthorized area and told to leave. Terou said he tried to speak with police and asked if they could quickly use the area to mourn Palestinians killed and communities uprooted during the Nakba. According to the arrest report, the group had been assigned a space for the event immediately across the street on Cumberland Avenue outside the Student Union Plaza, which had been reserved until 10 p.m. UTPD said the group did not leave the unreserved space outside the law school and were given two warnings to leave before they took them into custody.”

Misdemeanor charges like this are often dismissed for costs, but the DA wasn’t having any of that here.