Bay Area group arrives at UC Merced to support Palestine
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – What’s described as a “large rally” arrived at the UC Merced campus on Wednesday to ask the UC to withdraw investments from Israel “and enterprises of US militarism implicated in the ongoing atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The group, said to be made up of hundreds of students, faculty, and Bay Area community, is set to rally at the UC Regents meeting, which is also taking place at UC Merced. The UC Board of Regents is meeting on the UC Merced campus until May 16.
Over 100 people were counted at the demonstration on Wednesday, approximately twice as many who were present at the demonstration on Tuesday, reporters told YourCentralValley.com.
UC Merced encampment: What are their demands?
The rally follows a pro-Palestine encampment set up at UC Merced earlier this week. The protest group, UC Merced Gaza Solidarity Encampment led by Students for Justice in Palestine has been posted at UC Merced’s campus since May 12.
We are demanding that the UC Regents heed the call of their students, faculty, and alumni, as they did in 1985 when they made the historic decision to divest from South African apartheid.
Kassem Hamideh, a student at the University of California, Berkeley
UC Alumni for Palestine say they have collected over 13,000 signatures demanding the University of California divest from Israel immediately.
According to the group, Wednesday marks the 76th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ or “catastrophe” in Arabic.
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