IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A leader of recent protests against police brutality and racial injustice in Iowa City was ordered jailed Monday on a probation violation after police charged him with unlawful assembly.
Police arrested Mazin Mohamedali, 20, on Sunday evening on charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct for his role in a June 3 protest near Interstate 80 that ended with officers using tear gas and flash grenades to disperse the crowd.
Mohamedali has been an outspoken member of a group calling itself the Iowa Freedom Riders, delivering speeches and leading chants during several days of marches and gatherings throughout the city.
Hours before his arrest, the group on Sunday posted online its list of demands for change, including a 25% funding cut to the Iowa City Police Department that would be redistributed to social services and intervention programs.
The group is calling for strengthening a police citizens review board, removing police officers from schools, and lifting a 9 p.m. Coralville curfew, among other demands.
Mohamedali’s arrest came after he was quoted in the Daily Iowan newspaper saying protesters would be “ready for war Monday,” prepared for another potential clash with police.
A probation officer with the Department of Corrections cited that quote in a petition seeking to keep Mohamedali in custody following his arrest, saying he “poses a threat to the community and local law enforcement.” The petition seeks to revoke Mohamedali’s probation stemming from a 2018 burglary conviction in which he robbed an Iowa City gas station at knifepoint.
Judge Deborah Minot on Monday ordered Mohamedali to be jailed without bond while awaiting placement in a Coralville halfway house. She noted that in March he had been ordered to spend time there on a previous probation violation.
Authorities on Monday were transferring Mohamedali to be temporarily housed at the Marshall County jail in Marshalltown, about 90 miles away. His attorney, Rockne Cole, said the reason for the transfer wasn’t clear and that he would seek his return to Johnson County.
A criminal complaint alleges Mohamedali was part of an “unlawful assembly” of several hundred people on June 3 who were blocking roadways and vandalizing street signs, buildings and other property.
Protesters were met by a line of officers from the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa City Police Department, who ordered them to disperse or face chemical munitions. Video shows officers detonating tear gas canisters and flash grenades as the peaceful crowd chanted “hands up, don’t shoot.”
Officers said they had no choice but to disperse the crowd, which was seeking to advance to Interstate 80 and would have created a dangerous situation.
The use of force outraged critics, and the city and the University of Iowa said Friday it could have been avoided with better planning. In the following days, authorities closed the interstate and allowed protesters to demonstrate there.
Mohamedali is expected to face additional charges of criminal mischief and trespass, according to the petition and his attorney. Police say that Mohamedali and others pulled down a fence that was erected near the Old Capitol building on the University of Iowa campus, and that he was seen spray painting a nearby walkway pink.
Cole said the charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct raised “significant constitutional concerns” since protesters have a right to peacefully assemble.
