A University of Michigan student was taken into custody on Sunday after physically shoving a conservative activist during a campus dispute centered on Islam, as confirmed by campus police and video footage.
Liz Benichou, an online commentator participating in a “Liberty Under Fire USA” campus tour, was knocked to the ground following an argument that erupted near an informational table set up on university property.
Officers arrived shortly before 5 p.m. to monitor the unpermitted gathering, according to police.
“As the group was packing up to leave, officers witnessed a University of Michigan student assault a woman not affiliated with the university,” the University of Michigan Police Department stated. Authorities reported no injuries and processed and released the student pending warrant authorization.
Video circulated widely online showed an unidentified woman confronting participants seated behind signs reading “Is Islam Compatible with the West?” and “Is Islam evil?” The woman demanded to see an event permit, described the demonstration as “f,ing stupid,” clapped near a participant’s face, and referred to the organizers as “anti-Muslim people.”
The confrontation escalated when Benichou addressed a bystander regarding the woman’s clothing. “Am I wrong?” Benichou said in the video. “If she walked around in Iran like this, what would happen to her?”
The woman then shoved Benichou backward onto the pavement. A bystander and a police officer immediately intervened, pulling the woman away and placing her in handcuffs.
As officers escorted her toward a squad car, the woman shouted, “I should have killed you when I had the chance.” When an onlooker directed an insult at her suggesting she seek medical attention, she shouted back that she already had.
Benichou, who is Jewish and identifies herself online as a commentator on culture and politics, addressed the incident on social media Sunday evening.
“Political violence has NO place in the United States of America,” she wrote on X. “I am incredibly grateful to the law enforcement officers who acted immediately to protect me. I am now in a safe location receiving care, and I am going to be OK.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, Benichou stated that she had no prior acquaintance with the woman before Sunday’s altercation.
“She had every right to disagree with us, criticize our views, or challenge our arguments,” Benichou said. “What she did not have the right to do was physically attack me.”
Speaking subsequently with Fox News, Benichou explained that her intention had been to engage passersby in open dialogue, citing conservative campus debate formats as her model.
“She didn’t seem to want to listen; she wanted to start shouting,” Benichou said. “She just lunged.”
Liberty Under Fire, led by founder Taylor Sharp, launched a nationwide campus tour earlier this year with a focus on political discussions. Campus police noted that the group had not obtained the required permits to hold an event on university grounds that Sunday.
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