The UCLA Radio News Department’s real-time coverage of the events summarized in this article can be found on X (formerly Twitter).
Around 150 pro-Palestinian student protesters marched across UCLA’s North Campus on Monday, October 7 to remember those who have been killed by Israel’s war in Gaza. The crowd steadily grew after gathering in Dickson Court North at 4 p.m., as students chanted for UCLA to divest from its assets in Israel, and for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
On the day that marks one year since the October 7 attacks that prompted the war in Gaza, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA planned a protest in response to National SJP’s call for a “Week of Rage” from October 7 to 11. Speeches by SJP members centered Palestinian lives throughout the demonstration’s programming, the first speaker telling the crowd that “Palestinians’ love for one another is their resistance.” During the speeches, organizers distributed a petition for UC-wide asset disclosure, demanding that it be implemented by the end of the week “or UCLA will feel the rage of financial complicity.”
Around 4:45 p.m., SJP organizers began to march from Dickson Court North towards the Broad Art Center, leading the crowd in a mixture of English and Arabic chants. As protesters gathered before the Broad Art Center, two massive banners unfurled from the building’s balconies. One read “76 years of settler colonialism,” referring to the period since Palestinians were expelled from their land in the 1948 Nakba; the other read “UCPD, KKK, IOF, you’re all the same.” IOF is a common protest term that refers to the Israeli Defense Forces as the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Dickson Court North and the area outside the Broad Art Center are not among the areas designated by UCLA as “areas for public expression” by the university’s controversial September updates to its Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) policies. A UCPD spokesperson wrote following the protest that SJP did not comply with administration’s requests to move their rallies and stop the use of amplified sound; they also confirmed that one of the drones that flew over the demonstration was used by UCPD.
SJP organizers led the demonstrators from the Broad Art Center to the west entrance of Murphy Hall, UCLA’s administrative center. This area is included in UCLA’s free expression zones, but two lines of private security officers (CSC and APEX) faced the protesters at the steps into the building as they gathered for the final round of speakers. Students listened intently as SJP shared the names and stories of the people of Gaza; one speaker told the crowd that “with every story we share today, a new road of hope is opened for our return.”
Organizers reiterated but also expanded upon the Palestine Solidarity Encampment’s five original demands in a pamphlet handed out to students. They wrote that UCLA must divest from its assets tied to Israel and reinvest in a “dignified standard of living for students & workers”; abolish campus policing (including the barring of external police departments from campus); sever academic ties to Israel; and “recognize the genocide in Palestine and take accountability for UCLA’s complicity.” Contact information for jail support was also included in the pamphlet.
Towards the end of the protest, organizers urged the protesters to draw closer to the steps of Murphy Hall, leading the crowd in chants for disclosure, divestment and ceasefire. The protest ended as students shouted “Shame!” towards the building. UCLA has not implemented any of SJP’s demands and the group has previously accused administration of falsely claiming to be in negotiations with organizers.
On Monday, pro-Israel demonstrators also gathered to commemorate the lives taken on October 7, 2023. A display of 1,200 flags was planted on the lawn outside Kerckhoff Hall to represent those killed by the attacks. Organizers from Bruins for Israel later led a silent walk that began at UCLA Hillel and continued through campus, eventually gathering for a vigil in Bruin Plaza at 7 p.m.. Monday’s demonstrations were peaceful; no major confrontations took place between the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protests.
The Gaza Health Ministry’s confirmed death toll in Gaza has risen to nearly 42,000 in the past year, but medical experts say that it is likely an undercount as bodies remain buried under the rubble and medical infrastructure becomes increasingly destroyed. An article published in the Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, estimated the indirect death toll in Gaza to be 186,000 or even higher in July.
As SJP peacefully dispersed from the scene, a speaker urged the crowd to continue speaking up for Palestine, assuring attendees that “this is just the beginning of the week of rage. We have much, much more planned.” Campus protests for Palestine are far from over: SJP has made it clear that it will not rest until UCLA meets its demands.
