Dueling Gaza protests at UCLA draw hundreds
Palestinian and Israeli supporters gather near a tent encampment, mostly peacefully.
Demonstrators supporting and opposing Israel over the war in Gaza clashed in a large and noisy but mostly peaceful assembly at UCLA on Sunday, shouting slogans and pulling at police barricades not far from where pro-Palestinian students have maintained a tent encampment for days.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the grass at UCLA’s Dickson Court, waving banners, listening to speeches and sometimes yelling obscenities at one another. Reporters witnessed minor scuffles, but organizers had come armed with private security, and ended the demonstration with a call for attendees to leave peacefully. Campus police showed up at 2:30 p.m.
The protest came one day after police were called in at USC, where pro-Palestinian protesters returned with tents and reestablished an encampment in Alumni Park, days after 93 people were arrested in campus demonstrations.
At UCLA, supporters draped in Israel’s flag and waving smaller U.S. and Israel flags made their way to the front of a screen set up on the lawn by organizers of the rally, held to protest a similar pro-Palestinian encampment. To one side, group of men and women in kaffiyeh scarves linked arms, attempting to block access to the stage, demonstrators screaming and shouting even as speeches started.
Sunday’s UCLA counterprotest was organized by the nonprofit Israeli-American Council, which on Thursday used social media to denounce pro-Palestinian demonstrations across U.S. campuses.
“It is utterly unacceptable that any university campus should become a platform for pro-terror and anti-American activities,” the statement read in part, calling the protests “overtly antisemitic.”
But a representative for the student encampment stressed that their target was not Israel but the university itself.
“We want UCLA to divest from corporations that are profiting from the genocide in Gaza ... we are trying to get UCLA to divest because UCLA has blood on its hands,” said Kaia Shah, a 2023 UCLA graduate who now works for the university as a researcher.
Shah said the encampment started Thursday with 200 people and has since grown, with no arrests or other physical pushback from the university. “UCLA has continued to ignore us,” she said, prompting efforts to enlarge the encampment and elicit a university response.
She said those behind the plywood barricade sought to remain focused on what was happening in the Gaza Strip, not on the campus lawn. “We’re doing our best to stay levelheaded.”
At the center of their conflict is the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, and Israel’s retaliatory war on the Palestinian territory. Gaza health authorities say Israeli forces have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The United Nations says roughly 2 million civilians in Gaza are now living in near-famine conditions.
The conflict has ignited demonstrations at university campuses across the United States in recent weeks and resulted in the arrests of more than 700 people, according to various news sources.
At both UCLA and USC, the protests have been organized in support of Palestinians in Gaza and have drawn counterprotesters to the outskirts of the encampment to rally against Hamas and call for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.
“The Jewish students at UCLA are brilliant and resilient and they’re proud and they’re loud,” Dan Gold, executive director of the Hillel at UCLA, told demonstrators from the pro-Israel stage set up on the campus lawn Sunday. “We are on the right side of history.”
A young woman sat shaded by an Israeli flag, blood visible on her scalp, awaiting medical attention after she said she was shoved to the ground by another demonstrator while attempting to retrieve her fallen flag. Private security guards, meanwhile, attempted to restrict access to the pro-Israel rally.
Across the lawn, demonstrators carried signs that ranged from a handmade “Free Hugs Jewish Students” to pre-printed “I go bananas for Israel” — a taunt aimed at reports of someone with a banana allergy in the pro-Palestinian encampment, now encircled by a protective wall of plywood. Through gaps in the wood, a person waved a large Palestinian flag.
When one demonstrator began throwing peanuts at others, UCLA alum Randy Fried stepped in.
“We make peace when we find the ability to talk to one another. If we want them to listen to us, even if they’re wrong, we have to at least find a way to listen to them,” said Fried, who said he belonged to a social justice organization and whose former teacher is among the hostages still held in Gaza.
“I would argue that most people on this side of the fence have skin in the game,” Fried said, referring to those on the pro-Israel side of Sunday’s security barriers.
After reports that demonstrators were crossing those barriers, a UCLA spokesperson voiced distress. “UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest,” Mary Osako, the vice president for strategic communications, said in a statement released by the university press office. “We are heartbroken about the violence that broke out.”
The head of the Israeli-American Council, Elan Carr, confirmed Sunday that the group had organized the counterprotest at UCLA, as well as others at demonstrations across the country, and had hired multiple security companies to patrol the Los Angeles event.
“We don’t want any violence,” Carr told the crowd. “Don’t engage. You go right to your cars, you move peacefully. Can we agree?”
At the edge of Portola Plaza, a group of two dozen people in purple T-shirts held signs advocating peace, such as “Not One More Drop of Blood.”
They were representatives from the L.A. chapter of Standing Together, a nonprofit founded in Israel by Arabs and Jews, said member Zahra Sakkejha.
Organizers of the UCLA encampment say it is being put on by UC Divest, a coalition that includes Students for Justice in Palestine but also Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Student Labor Advocacy Project.
Sherene Razack, a professor of women’s studies at UCLA, said students in the encampment have been “extraordinarily disciplined and working extremely hard to keep the camp safe.”
“They have been trained on de-escalation tactics and have managed to keep things under control,” she added. “As a faculty member witnessing their behavior I couldn’t be prouder.”
USC has been roiled by bitter controversy over the rescinding of a graduation speaking slot for valedictorian Asna Tabassum and the subsequent cancellation of the “main stage” commencement ceremony.
Los Angeles police arrested 93 demonstrators last week, and tension was renewed Saturday after pro-Palestinian protesters reestablished a tent encampment in Alumni Park.