An Orthodox Jewish man has filed an $8 million lawsuit against Georgetown University, claiming he was injured while attending the Palestine Solidarity Movement’s national conference held here last year, the Canada Free Press reported.
The plaintiff, Bill Maniaci, a retired Nevada police officer, says that he was assaulted by Department of Public Safety officers while being removed from the conference.
In the lawsuit, Maniaci names as defendants President John DeGioia and Dave Morrell, the Vice President for Safety and Security. He has also named Darryl Harrison, Director of the Department of Public Safety, and Eric Smulson, Assistant Vice President for Communication, according to the Canada Free Press.
Smulson, however, said that the University has yet to be served a complaint and offered no comment on the suit.
Maniaci is suing for one million dollars for each injury sustained and each civil right he said the University violated.
The controversial conference held last February brought together nearly 400 activists from across the country to discuss divestment from Israel. This tactic has been adopted by solidarity activists in order to help end what they view as an apartheid system in Palestine.
While protests held in opposition to the event were generally peaceful, the Voice reported that DPS officers removed an unruly man from Gaston Hall for haranguing panel speakers.
The man, presumably the plaintiff, resisted the officers so strongly that they “were forced to drag the older man from the room,” wrote Emilie Pradera on Feb. 23.
