LOS ANGELES鈥� Police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA on Monday, May 6, as resurgent forced the sprawling Westwood campus to shift back to online classes the rest of the week amid outcry students and journalists were wrongfully detained – all as graduation dates moved closer amid the unrest.
UCLA officials came into the week with hopes of normal on-campus operations Monday, following a week of historic unrest that circled around a now-dismantled
But that would not be the case.
Police early Monday had detained multiple people, who gathered in a campus parking garage, according to law enforcement. An apparent “sit-in” inside UCLA’s Moore Hall also disrupted classes, officials said.
Reports from the scene indicated that more than 45 people were detained by police in the garage, allegedly because they refused to give their names or even say if they were students.
Organizers of the protests at UCLA posted on social media Monday that the early morning arrests were illegal and “a continuation of the consistent repression of student activism and the increase of militarization of universities.”
The group said protesters “refuse to conduct business as usual” until the university meets demands for divestment from Israel and Israeli-tied businesses.
In a statement demanding the release of the demonstrators, the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment said those detained included students, lawyers and members of the media, who they said were zip-tied and “forced to the ground for several hours.”
Meanwhile, 50 or more people gathered around 7 a.m. inside the campus’ Moore Hall, staging an apparent sit-in protest.
KCAL9 reported that the crowd had dispersed from the building by 9 a.m., but reports of other unauthorized gatherings began materializing in other buildings.
It would not be long before the university ended hope for in-person classes, for the day.
“Operations limited today 5/6. All classes moving remote today due to ongoing disruptions,” an alert said, shortly after 10 a.m. By late afternoon, the university had called off all in-person classes for the rest of the week.
“This morning, we’ve just been rallying and gathering our community after the awful events from last week. We want to make sure that we provide the community to pick up on this energy that we have on campus and disrupt learning as usual,” said a UCLA student media liason who declined to give a name out of privacy concerns. “We want a graduation, we want education, we want to go to school.”
The student said that disruption of “education as usual” was to continue to encourage the university to divest from entities that do business with Israel.
Detentions spark outcry
The treatment of press and activists sparked an outcry.
Demonstrators found their way to the Van Nuys jail, where detainees were taken. About 70 supporters gathered in a lawn area outside the LAPD station, calling for the release. Within hours that release came.
Independent Journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, was released around 3 p.m. without, to his knowledge, any charges filed against him.
鈥淚 numerous times reminded them that I was a member of the press and was told that was not their problem right now,鈥� he said, describing the arrest process. 鈥淎t one point I was told to shut up.鈥�
Freelance journalist has been detained for reporting on mass arrests of UCLA students in a parking garage. Press freedoms are being severely restricted in Los Angeles. Image from , who is also now detained.
Video:
— vpsreports.com (@vpsreports_com)
He said he was zip tied and transported to the LAPD Van Nuys station, where he was held for more than six hours before being released.
鈥淚鈥檓 angry, I鈥檓 annoyed, I鈥檓 absolutely shocked at the unprofessionalism I saw and experienced,鈥� he said shortly after being released.
He said he also feels upset by the difference in police response to the morning鈥檚 protest at UCLA versus last Tuesday鈥檚 violent attack on the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, which led to zero arrests.
鈥淚t seems very silly that I watched a group of grown men commit assaults for hours and then I watched a group of kids in a parking lot, that appeared to my eyes just to be loitering, being charged with conspiracy to commit burglary,鈥� he said.
Around 100 people have gathered outside LAPD鈥檚 Van Nuys station awaiting the release of 43 people arrested at UCLA this morning including journalists & . LA County Public Defender set up a booth to provide free legal assistance to arrestees
— Clara Harter (@_ClaraHarter)
President of the Society for Professional Journalists Ashanti Blaize shared a message on X condemning the arrest of Beckner-Carmitchel and other reporters who have been detained during the ongoing protests at UCLA.
鈥淏oth campus media journalists and external journalists must be allowed to cover these protests without law enforcement interference. This is a clear violation of both the First Amendment and CA penal code 409.7,鈥� she stated.
It was unclear the exact charges against the demonstrators.聽 Organizers said that when they were arrested, the “students were not currently protesting.”
“Our immediate concern is ensuring the fair treatment of all individuals involved in the recent events at UCLA,” said L.A. County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia. “We are closely monitoring the situation and have deployed our Rapid Response Team to provide on-the-ground support to arrestees. We are committed to providing legal representation and support to those who have been arrested or may face legal proceedings. It is essential that due process and the presumption of innocence are upheld. We will work diligently to protect the rights of our clients throughout.”
The action on Monday came one day after Chancellor Gene Block announced the creation of an Office of Campus Safety to administer policing and emergency management in the aftermath of campus unrest over pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Journalist describes being arrested at UCLA around 6:30 am鈥攄espite repeatedly identifying himself as a member of the press鈥攁nd finally being released at 3pm with no charges. "I鈥檓 angry, I鈥檓 annoyed, I鈥檓 absolutely shocked at the unprofessionalism"
— Clara Harter (@_ClaraHarter)
That unrest took place over days last week. On Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, after pro-Israeli counter-protesters heckled and then attacked a growing pro-Palestinian encampment at the campus’s Dickson Plaza, between the university’s historic Royce Hall and Powell Library.
The next night, after being declared an unlawful assembly, a wave of riot police moved in, clearing the huge encampment and arresting 200 people.
Fueling the protesters has been the call for an end to the war in Gaza. They – like peers at schools around the country — want UCLA聽 to be more transparent about its financial connections with military arms makers and with Israel.
But organizers with the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment on Monday focused renewed ire on Block, saying the newly created office “masquerades as campus safety” but ultimately reports to him. But it’s Block and UCLA administration, they added, who were responsible for security and safety lapses last week.
Block said last week that the administration “approached the encampment with the goal of maximizing our community members鈥� ability to make their voices heard on an urgent global issue,鈥� Block said in a statement Thursday afternoon. 鈥淲e had allowed it to remain in place so long as it did not jeopardize Bruins鈥� safety or harm our ability to carry out our mission.”
Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Safety Officer Rick Braziel will lead the “investigation to identify the perpetrators of the violence and hold them to account.”
UC San Diego arrests
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also gathered outside the San Diego central jail downtown Monday, chanting 鈥渓et them go,鈥� hours after police in riot gear cleared a protest encampment at UC San Diego and arrested 65 people.
The rally followed the first large, violent confrontation between police and protesters on the UCSD campus in decades 鈥� a confrontation prompted by an early-morning raid for which the university closed vehicular access to all of the campus west of Interstate 5, moved classes online and brought in multiple law enforcement agencies.
Cease-fire news
Monday’s re-emergence of protests came as news of a potential temporary cease-fire emerged on the internationals stage.
Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a cease-fire to halt the seven-month-long聽war with Israel in Gaza, hours after Israel ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating from the southern city of聽Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the deal, and details of the proposal have not yet been released. In recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the cease-fire would take place in聽a series of stages聽during which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.
It is not clear whether the deal will meet Hamas鈥� key demand of bringing about an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal.
A possible cease-fire deal did not seem to deter students. The UCLA student liaison declined to comment on the cease-fire.
And the news did not stop Columbia University in New York from canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony Monday, following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled its campus while spurring others,聽 such as Southern California colleges, to protest in kind.
Students at Columbia will still be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.
USC, USC, others look ahead
The decision comes as universities around the country are wrangling with how to handle commencements. Another campus shaken by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its campus quadrangle in Atlanta to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, have pulled off ceremonies with few disruptions.
At USC on Monday, USC students and pedestrians crossed West Jefferson Boulevard and McClintock Avenue to and from campus. USC students must show their school identification cards before being allowed to enter the campus.
It was the aftermath of the clearing of the pro-Palestinian encampment in the middle of USC鈥檚 main campus Sunday morning by officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and USC鈥檚 Department of Public Safety, ending a high-profile protest that began in April.
University officials said among several reasons for the clearing was that 鈥渙utside agitators鈥� had jumped a fence on Saturday and assaulted officers 鈥� a statement challenged by a student journalist at USC鈥檚 Daily Trojan. No information on any resulting arrests was available.
And no arrests or major confrontations were reported on Sunday when the encampment was taken down, but the campus was closed for several hours.
In the aftermath, graduation preparations went on Monday as USC announced Monday that “the University Park Campus is now open to students, faculty, staff, registered guests and known vendors with confirmation of work.”
The university’s various commencement ceremonies 鈥� minus the traditional main stage ceremony that was previously canceled 鈥� will begin on Wednesday and continue through Saturday at various locations around campus.
Commencement season has been a bit of a roller-coaster for USC students, given the various protests that have occurred on campus and the establishment of an encampment that was cleared by police early Sunday morning.
“This morning DPS, with the assistance of the LAPD, removed the occupiers who had rebuilt their illegal encampment in Alumni Park. The operation was peaceful. Campus is opening, students are returning to prepare for finals, and commencement set-up is in full swing,” USC President Carol Folt said in a statement released around midday Sunday.
“Over the last few weeks, the university exercised patience and restraint as we worked to de-escalate a volatile situation. We’ve spoken to the occupiers daily, issued repeated warnings, and offered opportunities and locations for them to protest lawfully. We’ve supported their right to express strong opinions and passions for their cause, as always,” she continued.
USC was gearing up this week for the replacement to its main graduation, what the university calls a Trojan Family Graduate Celebration, on Thursday event at the Memorial Coliseum. Officials are promising a graduation-like event that includes drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, the Trojan Marching Band, and “a special gift just for the Class of 2024.”
UCLA’s graduation cycle, which goes from June 13-16, appeared to be still in the works as originally planned. UCLA Law, which has the earliest campus graduation, on May 10, also appeared to be happening as originally planned, at Pauley Pavilion.
But even as graduations inched closer, demonstrations continued across Southern California.
Pro-Palestinian students at Pomona College were setting up their own encampment to continue their call for divestment in Israel.
On Thursday, a majority of Pomona College faculty voted in support of students鈥� demands that the institution 鈥渄ivest from corporations complicit with war crimes and other human rights violations committed by the Israeli government in Israel/Palestine,鈥� according to a news release from Pomona Divest from Apartheid.
Beginning at 5 a.m. Monday,聽Pomona College聽students had begun constructing an encampment in the commencement space in Marston Quad.
Diana Truong, a senior at Pomona College, was at the encampment Monday because she said she believes in ending the violence in Gaza. She was also one of the students arrested in an April protest. That’s when an encampment occupying the same space was dismantled by officials and led to the arrest of Truong and 19 other students after they took over an administration building.
鈥淎s a Vietnamese person, knowing there are very clear parallels to the Vietnam war it makes a lot of sense for me to support divestment and the legacy of student activism,鈥� Truong said.
She added: There is concern about whether 鈥�”our college going to call militarized riot police on us again?鈥欌�� Truong said. 鈥淥bviously, we don鈥檛 want that to happen again, but most importantly we want to call for an end to the violence in Palestine.鈥�
Early Monday, there were no reports of counter-protests or a planned removal of the Pomona encampment.
Staff Writers Nathan Percy and Mercedes Cannon-Tran contributed to this report. San Diego Union-Tribune staff writers Gary Robbins and Karen Kucher contributed. City 色情论坛 Service and the Associated Press also contributed to this report.
