Thousands of UC San Diego students walk out of class in pro-Palestinian protest

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Thousands of students walked out of class at UC San Diego on Wednesday in a pro-Palestinian protest two days after the “Gaza Solidarity” encampment was dismantled, resulting in over 60 arrests.

The walk-out, which was called a “Student Strike for Palestine” by its organizers, started just after noon at the Sun God Lawn — across from the grassy area next to Geisel Library where the camp stood for roughly five days. That space has since been cordoned off.

After parading through campus, the students peacefully sat down outside the Student Center to continue the rally and listen to speakers.

In an Instagram post Tuesday, the coalition of student groups behind the walk-out said it was a direct reaction to the university administration’s decision to bring in law enforcement to disperse their encampment on Monday, citing health and safety concerns.

Hundreds of police officers descended on the encampment just before 6 a.m. to clear it, arresting 65 demonstrators — 40 students and 25 whose connection to the university was unconfirmed by authorities. The students have all been placed on “immediate interim suspension.”

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Video of the scene captured by protestors and FOX 5/KUSI shows use of batons and pepper spray against demonstrators, while officers who appeared to have been snipers were positioned at nearby rooftops. At least two people sustained minor injuries in the process.

“UCSD allowed its own students to be beaten, pepper sprayed, and arrested on their own campus,” the student organizations behind the encampment, called the “UCSD Divest Coalition,” said in the Tuesday Instagram post. “We won’t rest until UC Divests.”

The post appeared to have been pulled down by Wednesday afternoon, following the walkout.

Divestment from Israel was one of the main demands for student organizers behind UCSD’s encampment. It echoed calls made by other collegiate demonstrators since last month, when students launched a global movement to push back against the military campaign in Gaza.

“We as a university are investing in hundreds of companies that are actively making the bombs used to perpetuate this genocide,” one protestor told FOX 5/KUSI on Wednesday. “[This is] making us, as the university, complicit.”

In earlier statements, the student organizers also asked UCSD to “affirm Palestinians’ right to life and safety,” and call for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting, which they describe as an unfolding genocide against Palestinians.

Students are also now demanding that the university reverse students’ suspensions and dismiss any charges brought against detained protestors.

It is unclear though if prosecutors will charge any of the protestors who were arrested. A spokesperson for the San Diego City Attorney’s office told FOX 5/KUSI that they are still reviewing the cases to make a determination about whether to proceed.

Before Monday, the “Gaza Solidarity” encampment had largely remained calm, aside from drawing a group of counter-protestors and health inspectors over the weekend. According to the university, wooden stakes, propane tanks, metal and plywood “shields,” aerosol spray cans and a sword were all recovered by crews as they cleaned up the campsite.

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UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla warned of potential intervention just hours after the encampment was erected next to Geisel Library, describing it as a “violation of campus policy.” He added that students could be met with sanctions, such as suspension or legal action.

In a subsequent statement, Khosla doubled down and defended his decision to bring in police to clear the encampment, reiterating that it violated campus policy while saying it “grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.”

He specifically pointed to wooden stakes, propane tanks, metal and plywood “shields,” aerosol spray cans and a sword that were recovered at the campsite as part of the safety concerns.

Yet Khosla’s decision to follow through on those earlier warnings has now drawn blow back from academic faculty, alumni and current students — scrutiny that also includes calls for him to resign as chancellor.

One of the first calls came from the faculty of UCSD’s Ethnic Studies department in a post first posted to Instagram on Monday and was re-shared Wednesday afternoon.

“Hostile actions by the administration and the police they ordered onto campus caused disastrous upheaval, including physical injuries and an authoritarian fracturing of peaceful student organizing and community,” the statement said.

It added, “The deployment of police, including snipers on top of the Student Health Building, was a shocking abdication of the Chancellor’s mandate to support and protect our students.”

In the days since, a number of other groups have come out of the woodwork to call on Khosla’s resignation over his response to the pro-Palestinian encampment. A petition pushing for this that is circulating on Change.org has garnered over 6,000 signatures since Monday.

Other faculty groups have similarly condemned the actions taken by UCSD’s administration. In a statement, the San Diego Faculty Association said they were “shocked and outraged” by the decision to bring in police to dismantle the encampment.

“The militarized response created an unsafe space on campus,” they wrote. “The militarized response has only chilled free speech, escalated tensions, reduced safety on campus, and destroyed the trust needed for negotiations and shared governance.”

The labor union representing academic employees across the University of California system has also begun mobilizing for a potential strike in response to UCSD and UCLA’s responses to their respective pro-Palestinian encampments.

“It is important for Academic Employees to vote YES in the strike authorization vote to show UC Administration that this unprecedented crackdown on free speech on University campuses is unacceptable,” the union wrote in a statement calling for the strike authorization vote.

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“Our members have been beaten, concussed, pepper sprayed, both by counter-protestors and by police forces. As a union, it is our responsibility to stand beside them and demand that UC stop committing these gross Unfair Labor Practices,” it continued.

On Wednesday, UCSD administration released an updated statement on the demonstrations that supported students’ “right to peacefully protest and express views on campus.”

“Dialogue, free speech and academic freedom are cornerstones of our university,” it read. “However, we are also fully committed to protecting the physical safety of all individuals in our community and upholding the rights of all students, faculty and staff to continue to work, study and carry out the academic mission of the university without undue disruption.”

Campuses like UCSD have become ground zero in a larger reckoning over U.S. involvement in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza since mid-April, stirring debates about free speech, protest, antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Opponents of the protests, including some Jewish students and alumni, have argued that the antiwar demonstrations veer into displays of antisemitism, instilling what they describe as a sense of fear in members of the campus community supportive of Israel.

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