Iowa City protest leader jailed after unlawful assembly case

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...