Pro-Palestinian encampment is building on UCLA campus

One day after nearly 100 people were arrested following pro-Palestine protests on the campus of USC, a similar protest began early today on the Westwood campus of UCLA, with participants forming an encampment of tents outside Royce Hall.

Several dozen protesters were sitting inside the encampment, which was established around 4 a.m., according to reports from the scene. Organizers of the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment,” similar to their counterparts at USC, issued a list of demands that include divestment of all University of California and UCLA Foundation funds from companies tied to Israel, along with a university call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and an academic boycott by UC against Israeli universities, including a suspension of study-abroad programs.

“For 201 days, Israel has murdered, injured, starved, disappeared, displaced and kidnapped Palestinians with impunity,” according to a message posted online by organizers of the UCLA encampment, including the UC Divest Coalition at UCLA, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace UCLA.

“For 201 days, the world has watched in silence as Israel has murdered over 30,000 Palestinians. today, UCLA joins students across the country in demanding that our universities divest from the companies which profit off of the occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine. Now, more than ever, we must rise in solidarity to demand that the world centers Palestine, that the genocide is immediately ended and that our university is no longer complicit in human rights violations.”

Participants erected a makeshift wooden fence alongside the encampment and displayed signs with slogans such as “UCLA Says Free Palestine,” “Blood on the UC Hands” and “When people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

It was not immediately clear if all of the participants in the UCLA action were students.

There was no immediate comment from UCLA officials.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people took part in a pro-Palestine protest and attempted “occupation” of Alumni Park on the USC campus. That event ended with 93 arrests of people who refused to disperse from the area on the private campus.

The USC campus remains closed to the general public Thursday, but open to students, staff and faculty with proper identification.