This post was updated Oct. 8 at 12:49 a.m.
Around 70 people attended a protest led by Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA on Tuesday afternoon that commemorated two years since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Protesters gathered at De Neve Plaza around 11:50 a.m. and marched throughout campus until 1:45 p.m. The event recognized the 67,000 people who have died in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Around 25 police officers and personnel were stationed in De Neve Plaza around 12:05 p.m. The event was scheduled for 12 p.m., and a protester began speaking around 12:12 p.m.
Signs posted on the perimeter of De Neve Plaza read “no events are permitted in this area today.” A staff member from UCLA Student Affairs told a protester that demonstrating in De Neve Plaza is a violation of the university’s Time, Place and Manner policies – and that if demonstrators did not comply, the issue would escalate to the Office of Campus Safety.
The protesters then left De Neve Plaza but paused at the crosswalk between De Neve Plaza and Bruin Walk, with some participants reading speeches condemning Israel’s military campaign.
“We are here because memory is not passive,” a speaker said. “Memory is an action.”
A staff member from UCLA Student Affairs told a protester that they had to move from the De Neve entrance because they were blocking a fireway, adding that they could issue a dispersal order if the protesters did not move.
The protesters left the area around 12:40 p.m. and began marching toward Bruin Plaza. Demonstrators chanted, “Free Palestine,” “5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state” and “Intifada, intifada,” as they marched.
The demonstrators reached Bruin Plaza – a designated area for free expression under TPM – around 12:45 p.m. Protesters held Palestinian flags, carried a coffin-shaped object and pulled a wagon full of red flowers, which were then handed out to the group.
A speaker at Bruin Plaza representing the UC Divest Coalition at UCLA called on the UC to disclose and divest “from genocide, militarism and all forms of state violence.” The UC has $32 billion in funds that the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions movement – which advocates for divestment from companies associated with Israel and the Israeli military – has called for divestment from, said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the UC’s chief investment officer, in May 2024.
A protester handed out N95 masks, offering them to those without face coverings. While protesters cannot use masks to conceal their identities while breaking university policy, UCLA’s TPM policies allow face coverings if students are complying with university guidelines.
The university finalized its TPM guidelines Sept. 19, replacing interim policies which had been in place since September 2024. The rules establish where public expression activities take place, prohibit free expression activities from midnight to 6 a.m. in all public spaces and ban temporary structures or encampments.
Steve Lurie, the associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, said TPM rules “reset” if the group is moving, rather than remaining in one place.
“If a group is moving, there’s a lot greater allowance for what that group can do,” he said. “That makes a lot of sense because one of the things we’re trying to prevent is another encampment or something like that.”
The group turned onto Election Walk around 1 p.m. Protesters passed a memorial for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, which killed 1,200 people, occurring simultaneously in Meyerhoff Park.
The protestors arrived at Dickson Plaza around 1:10 p.m. – an area where public expression activities are not permitted per TPM guidelines. Multiple people spoke, including one who said “none of this was new” – with regards to the violence in Gaza – before the protesters began moving again at 1:15 p.m., marching between Kaplan Hall and Powell Library until they reached Young Hall.
The protest ended outside of Young Hall at around 1:45 p.m. with a moment of silence for Palestinians killed. Demonstrators dropped red poppies made of paper into a coffin-shaped object.
“We must all stand with Palestine,” a protester said after the moment of silence. “We must all stand against oppression. So please, if you take anything away from today, turn any agitation you may feel – any anger, any excitement, even – turn that into action for a Palestinian.”
Contributing reports by Alexandra Crosnoe, Maggie Konecky, Andrew Diaz and Ruby Galbraith, Daily Bruin staff.
