Four people were arrested last year pro-Palestinian protest at UCLA has filed a lawsuit against the university alleging violations of their First Amendment rights.
After a week-long protest, a multi-agency police task force arrested more than 200 people who refused to leave the encampment after the university declared an unlawful assembly.
“Students who decried the genocide of Palestinians and the university’s complicity were brutally shut down by the same administrators who claim to support free speech and thought,” said Graeme Blair, an associate professor of political science who was arrested. As a teacher, I am ashamed that the university has failed our students.”
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In the lawsuit, Blair, another educator and two students allege that the university and UC regents violated “core freedoms protected by the First Amendment” and “unlawfully caused the arrests of students and faculty involved in non-violent protest’.
“The encampment embraced the ideals of campus life and the promises of an inclusive democracy where students from diverse backgrounds came together to protest, socialize, study, pray, eat and dance,” said art history student Benjamin Kersten, another plaintiff in the case.
Like many other college campuses at the time, pro-Palestinian protesters formed an encampment near UCLA’s Royce Hall and Powell Library in April 2024. Within a week, the protesters had gained a foothold, raising concerns. Jewish students.
“It’s scary to be a Jewish student at UCLA. It is not safe right now,” freshman Asher Taxon said on April 30. ‘The university doesn’t protect us at all. We have voiced our complaints. We have expressed our concerns. denied. We are not recognised.”
Marie, a student at UCLA who asked us to use only her first name and wear a mask during the interview, joined the pro-Palestinian, saying the group could not let the “agitators” in “for security reasons.” Nevertheless, university officials said the protest remained peaceful.
“While the demonstration remains largely peaceful, our campus must remain a place where we treat each other with respect and recognize our shared humanity – not a place where we devolve into violence and bullying,” the spokesperson said.
On April 30, after nearly a week, the university declared the encampment an unlawful assembly and threatened repercussions against the protesters who remained.
“Those who choose to remain – including both students and employees – may face sanctions,” the university wrote that day. “For students, these sanctions may include disciplinary action, such as an interim suspension, which, after due process through the student conduct process, could lead to dismissal.”
The protesters responded in a statement saying they would not leave.
“We will not leave. We will stay here until our demands are met. You justify the mistreatment of students in the encampment in the same way you justify your complicity in the Palestinian genocide,” the protesters wrote in a statement.
Later that evening, counter-protesters entered the encampment. Separated by metal barriers, the two sides remained in a stalemate until minor clashes began to break out between both groups. The small skirmishes evolved into an all-out battle counter-protesters threw fireworkstraffic cones, a scooter, wooden pallets and what appeared to be smoke bombs at people along the barrier to the encampment.
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Hours passed as police mobilized their forces to separate the groups. Hostilities ceased shortly after police established their presence along the skirmish lines. In the following days they cleared the camp and dispersed the crowd.
“While administrators claimed they cleared the encampment to protect protesters from further incidents of mob violence, our laws prohibit the suppression of speech because it is unpopular or could provoke violent reactions,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at the Southern California. ACLU.
UCLA could not immediately be reached for comment.
