Police took multiple people into custody and cleared a Gaza Solidarity Encampment at UC Irvine on Wednesday evening, more than two weeks after it was established.
A university spokesman said the crowd was estimated at 500 people at one point. There was no official word on how many people were detained, or if they were being arrested, but about 30 people were seen being removed by police with their hands in some sort of restraint such as zip ties.
At least two people who were taken into custody told reporters that they were UCI faculty members.
Campus police called for help from other police agencies in the region after a crowd that started around 200 people gathered at the pro-Palestinian encampment in the afternoon in response to a call for an emergency coalition protest; for a couple of hours the protesters expanded the footprint of the encampment that was in a quad in front of the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall and some barricaded themselves using coolers, umbrellas and other items in the nearby lecture hall.
Advancing police officers in riot gear, over the course of a couple of hours, pushed the protesters from the quad area and the buildings and as night fell into Aldrich Park.
UCI spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp said he did not know if police would stay on campus overnight.
The police action drew mixed reactions and some questioned the university’s mid-afternoon declaration in a campus-wide alert that the protest had turned violent.
Gregory Hammoud, an Irvine resident and UCI alumnus, said that it was one of the most “insane things he has ever seen any Orange County police department do.”
“They are in riot gear and slowly narrowing in on everyone,” Hammoud said. “We are the ones trying to make this peaceful, they are the ones trying to ensue violence. Seeing my community go through something like this is heartbreaking.
“We seriously just want peace and we want our UCI administrators to express they want peace as well,” Hammoud added.
Tension increased when officers from neighboring agencies arrived to help UCI police, but rather than an all-out clash it turned into a methodical sweep that eventually cleared the encampment.
Some shoving between police and protesters was spotted as officers moved further into the encampment area and eventually started to remove some protesters.
Throughout the afternoon, the encampment was expanded to take over the quad area in front of the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall and protesters were seen chanting from the second-floor balcony of the hall. Pop-up tents, umbrellas, coolers and equipment were spread out to fill the quad, even used to block stairways to buildings and reinforce the barricade.
Police tore down a painted banner protesters had unfurled from the second-floor balcony reading “Alex Odeh Hall” in honor of the Palestinian activist who died in a 1985 office bombing in Santa Ana.
Protesters were led in chants of “We won’t move” and “shame” and some wore scarves or face masks and had goggles and hard hats. Another chant the protesters kept returning to: “There is no riot here. Why are you in riot gear?”
One man who was escorted out by police identified himself as a UCI faculty member. He said he was out at the encampment to “support my students who have a right to peacefully protest.”
“My students are not interested in violence, they are only interested in drawing attention to genocide,” said the faculty member, who did not otherwise identify himself. “These police officers decided to grab me even though I wasn’t doing anything different from anyone else. To the people of Gaza, we are with you.”
Another man being escorted away said the protest was peace and called for a free Palestine.
I am at the UCI Pro-Palestinian encampment where hundreds of supporters are gathered after encampment leaders called for an emergency coalition protest this morning.
Check back for updates. pic.twitter.com/PSMkLSySok
— Annika Bahnsen (@annika_bahnsen) May 15, 2024
The Gaza Solidarity Encampment formed April 29 in front of the hall with students sleeping in tents and hosting teach-ins, speakers and other outreach activities. Last week, UCI sent suspension notices to several students, including those who had been part of the negotiating team representing the encampment in talks with university administration over demands.
The pro-Palestinian protesters at UCI have repeatedly said since the encampment formed that they would not leave until the university divests from companies and institutions with ties to Israel and weapons manufacturers, “reinvests money into students and workers” and calls for and end of Israeli occupation of the Gaza strip, among other demands.
Amnesty for involved students has also been part of the demands.
“Their suspensions, bad-faith negotiations, their lying emails, their threat of police – all of these are fear tactics meant to silence us, but we are strong in our resolve and we will not rest,” Sarah Khalil, chair of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCI, and a UCI student, said in a prepared statement released ahead of the protest.
When approached Wednesday during the protest’s earlier hours, Khalil would not comment further and other participating students said leaders of the movement said not to talk with the media.
Organizers with the SJP group also said their call to action Wednesday was meant to “commemorate 76 years of Palestinian resistance in the face of violent, illegal occupation.”
“Over 40,000 dead, you’re suspending kids instead,” “We will not stop, we will not rest until UCI divests,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” were among the chants that could be heard early in the day.
Police from Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Orange, Costa Mesa, La Palma, Westminster, Newport Beach, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol were seen on campus Wednesday afternoon.
“We were asked to assist UCI PD with an escalating situation on campus,” Sgt. Karie Davies of the Irvine Police Department said in an email sent at 3:15 p.m. “Our officers are responding to the meeting point.”
Almost no protestors remain. Silence. pic.twitter.com/zBetUP8jAk
— Annika Bahnsen (@annika_bahnsen) May 16, 2024
Irvine Mayor Farah Khan, who has supported the right to protest peacefully, responded to a UCI message on social media.
“It’s a shame that peaceful free speech protests are always responded to with violence,” she said. “Taking space on campus or in a building is not a threat to anyone. UCI leadership must do everything they can to avoid creating a violent scenario here. These are your students with zero weapons.”
Khan later released a statement.
“My only hope is that UCI administration will handle the situation without any physical force by police,” she said. “I understand that officers from the Sheriff’s Department and neighboring cities have been called in for mutual aid according to an MOU with the agencies. But these are unarmed students using their first amendment right to protest, as many students have done previously throughout the years. I’ve seen photos and videos and have not seen any act of violence from the students. And expect no direction to police to act with violence from UCI Administration.”
Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim agreed “students have a right to free expression” but also said “it’s critical to ensure these expressions don’t cross the line into antisemitism and hate speech creating a threatening environment for our Jewish students, as well.”
In a released statement, Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents the Fifth District on the OC Board of Supervisors, said while she values “the right to peacefully protest … we cannot enable the recent escalations, which include the disruption of classes and vandalization of campus property.
“UCI is a place of learning, research, and free expression. Maintaining this requires the situation surrounding these protests to remain peaceful. I reached out to the chancellor to encourage the administration practice restraint, peacefully disperse the protestors, and subsequently re-engage in negotiations with our students.”
The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned “UCI’s militarized police response” Wednesday evening and said it had staff at the campus monitoring the situation.
“These students have been engaging in nonviolent speech, and UCI must cease all attempts to intimidate and chill free speech, including the militant use of law enforcement to forcefully remove peaceful protests,” CAIR-LA officials said in their statement. “We are extremely concerned that UCI is choosing to punish students for constitutionally protected speech, especially since this police activity comes on the heels of numerous student suspensions and disciplinary actions.”
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer released a statement late Wednesday afternoon, saying his office was “working with law enforcement to monitor all protest-related activity in Orange County, including today’s protest at the University of California, Irvine.”
“The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly; however, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly, including violence and vandalism of any kind, will not be tolerated,” Spitzer said.
UCI’s encampment has largely been without conflict since it went up more than two weeks ago. While students have not had reached agreements with university officials as has been seen at some other campuses, there also hasn’t been some of the clashes seen elsewhere in the country, including at UCLA.
Though pro-Palestinian actions at UCLA started in mid-April, a pre-dawn clash of Palestinian supporters and pro-Israeli counterprotesters on May 1 marked one of the most violent incidents to date in the national movement of campus protests related to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Over a three-hour window, arguments involving activists on both sides rose to become physical confrontations, with some using low-grade chemical weapons against each other.
The Los Angeles Police Department – criticized later for waiting several hours to intervene – eventually reported that about 15 people were hurt and at least 210 were taken into custody. That encampment was cleared soon after.
Abri Magdaleno, a senior English major at UCI, said they were puzzled when they received a zotALERT that said a “violent protest” was confirmed at or near the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall.
“I haven’t heard of any evidence of violence, this is definitely the craziest alert I’ve gotten from UCI, though,” they said. “I would love to know what violence was confirmed to start this.”
A global studies professor, who did not give her name as she was detained by police, blasted UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman and blamed him for the cost associated with the large law enforcement presence Wednesday, saying the money could’ve gone to help students. When asked if she feared for her job, the professor said, “What job do I have if the students don’t have a future?”
Officials at UCI canceled evening classes Wednesday and planned to hold classes online Thursday.
Staff writers Hanna Kang and Andre Mouchard contributed to this article.