Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Lead Protest
Today, UCLA students held a protest with tents called the Gaza Solidarity Sukkot Encampment at Dickson Court North. The encampment was set up on Monday morning. At about 10:00 a.m., a campus security liaison arrived and, according to social media posts, “asked the students to take down the ” According to the social media account UCLA Radio, the protest was led by organizers from Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, joined by Jewish Voice for Peace UCLA (JVP).
As an explanation, Graduate SJP posted this message on their Instagram account, “Sukkot, Festival of Booths, Is a Jewish Harvest Holiday. Observers Dwell in a Sukkah, a Temporary Hut, for 7 Days. This Sukkot, as the Genocide of Palestinians Continues and Millions of Gazans Are Displaced Yet Again, We Recommit To Fighting for Their Liberation. All Who Believe in Justice and Liberation for Palestine Are Welcome at This Interfaith Observation of Sukkot.”
A social media user who saw pictures from the scene commented that they thought they could not still be shocked, but the destruction of a Sukkah was appalling.
The UCLA Police Department posted on Twitter “We are aware of an unauthorized demonstration in Dickson Court North that started around 8:45 this morning. There are currently about 30-40 people and it’s impacting some walkways. We have officers in the area monitoring the situation. We’ll keep you updated.”
However, Dickson Court North is a quad that can easily be walked around and does not lead to any important buildings. The sidewalks form an X in the middle of the quad, but nothing in the quad or nearby can only be accessed through the quad.
Around 4:00 p.m. UCPD officers stopped in Dickson Court North to take pictures of demonstrators at the Gaza Solidarity Sukkah. Organizers have since hung a banner between two trees in Dickson Court that reads “UCLA, who do you protect?”
Around 5:30 p.m. UCPD officers entered the courtyard in riot gear but soon left while protesters chanted, “Cops off campus.” At 8:00 p.m. a large crowd of counter-protesters gathered outside the Sukkah, taking videos of demonstrators and shouting insults. They then attempted to rush into the Sukkah, while police in riot gear were seen nearby.
The UCPD Twitter account announced that “officers announced a dispersal order just after 8:30 p.m. tonight at an unauthorized demonstration involving about 40 people at Dickson Court North. Almost all of the protestors left the area.” One protester was arrested for failure to disperse, according to the UCPD social media posts. While the police demanded that the protesters leave, the counter-protesters jeered, “It’s over. Get out.”
The police and maintenance men broke down the Sukkah and loaded it into a truck, while UCPD officers, CSC officers, and Apex Security guards blocked off the entire area from Dickson Court to Portola Plaza and Charles E. Young Drive south to Thayer Avenue. Ironically, the police were the ones blocking student access to school areas on Monday night.
According to a social media statement around 12:30 a.m. Graduate SJP said, “Jewish and non-Jewish students at UCLA set up a sukkah and demanded that UCLA stop profiting off of the genocide of Palestinians by divesting from weapons manufacturers and other companies facilitating occupation and apartheid. Students held teach-ins. painted banners, and ate under the sukkah while campus security repeatedly harassed them and tore down their banners.”
“In the evening, zionists attacked the sukkah, hurling slurs at Jewish students, joking about blowing them up, and cheering on the impending riot police. Students valiantly attempted a defense of the sukkah, but zionist aggressors ripped apart the sukkah and desecrated the shelter while chanting homophobic slurs. As police advanced, students dispersed for their own safety.”
