Excerpt:
The Orange County district attorney's office on Friday charged 11 defendants with conspiring to disrupt a meeting and a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States at UC Irvine last year.
The move comes after about 50 protesters rallied in front of the Orange County district attorney's office Tuesday. Though some have criticized the students' method of protest, many said that university punishment was sufficient enough for the "Irvine 11," as the students came to be known.
In a statement, Orange County Dist. Atty.Tony Rackauckas said the case was filed because of an "organized attempted to squelch the speaker." He also said the students "meant to stop this speech and stop anyone else from hearing his ideas, and they did so by disrupting a lawful meeting."