When students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) launched the Palestine Solidarity Encampment in protest of certain actions of the State of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces and their university’s financial entanglements with those actions, they did so in the tradition of many thousands before them who campaigned in the same space against the Red Scare, the Vietnam War, and apartheid in South Africa.
But on May 2 of 2024, less than two days after a mob of more than 100 masked outsiders armed with toxic spray, fireworks, pipes, bottles, and other weapons attacked nonviolent protesters in the encampment, the UCLA Police Department and partner agencies – at the direction of UCLA and UC leadership – violently destroyed the encampment, resulting in the arrest of more than 200 students, staff members, and supporters.
When police broke into the encampment, the protestors were not engaged in any violence or criminal activity. Rather than protecting students, faculty, and staff and their right to free expression and association, the university decided to eradicate the encampment, purportedly to protect the demonstrators themselves from future mob violence.
The student protestors themselves, with the support of members of the faculty and staff, comprised a multi-racial and multi-ethnic group of Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, agnostics, and members of other faiths.
In response to events occured in Spring of 2024, on October 22, 2024, two UCLA students and two UCLA faculty members filed suit against the UC Regents for violating their rights to free speech and expression and for unlawfully arresting students and faculty engaged in nonviolent demonstration. The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and Walkup, Melodia, Kelly and Schoenberger.
Case Developments
Plaintiffs file complaint against the Regents of the University of California.
