Around 60 students attended a Monday vigil hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA to recognize Palestinians killed by the Israeli military since the start of its campaign in Gaza two years ago.
Participants originally gathered at Dickson Plaza around 8 p.m. for the event. However, the vigil relocated to Dickson Court South and began around 8:40 p.m. after a UCLA Student Affairs staff member told two attendees that Dickson Plaza is not a designated free expression area under UCLA’s Time, Place and Manner guidelines.
The Israeli military has killed over 67,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel began its military campaign in Gaza following Palestinian political party and militant group Hamas’ attack, which killed 1,200 people.
Attendees of the vigil listened to speeches condemning Israel’s military campaign and prayed together.
“We must remember the names of our martyrs, their faces, their stories, their hobbies, their loved ones, their laughters, their smiles,” one speaker said. “We must remember them and their stories. It’s our responsibility.”
Attendees read articles, recited passages from the Quran and described conversations they had over social media with Palestinians currently displaced in Gaza. A line of three police cars repeatedly circled Dickson Court South as the organizers spoke.
Michael Chwe, a professor of political science, said he believes it is important to support student activists who have faced heightened repression.
“What’s in my mind is all the memories we’ve had of this,” Chwe said. “So many cases of police violence on our students, and so many cases where I saw police just snatch students from the crowd. It’s hard to forget those moments.”
Over 20 officers and personnel from UCPD and UCLA Student Affairs – including Craig Valenzuela, UCPD’s chief of police, and Steve Lurie, the associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety – stood at the perimeter of Dickson Plaza before the vigil around 7:40 p.m. A sign posted outside Royce Hall and Powell Library read, “No events are permitted in this area today.”
Jeffrey Chobanian, the acting captain of UCPD’s operations bureau, said UCPD increased its police presence in Dickson Plaza to enforce university policy and prevent possible clashes between attendees and counter-protesters.
UCLA implemented its finalized Time, Place and Manner policies Sept. 19, replacing interim policies that had been in place since September 2024.
[Related: UCLA’s finalized Time, Place and Manner policy alters public expression guidelines]
The guidelines specify that public expression activities can only occur without approval in certain areas on campus – including Bruin Plaza, the southeast corner of Dickson Court South and Meyerhoff Park. No public expression activities may occur on campus between midnight and 6 a.m., per the guidelines.
“There’s definitely been some lessons learned as time has gone on,” Chobanian said. “We want to be very proactive, and we also want to make sure that our policies are enforced in a timely fashion.”
Lurie said in an emailed statement that the organizers’ lack of communication gave the university “no choice but to deploy” officers and public safety aids.
UCLA’s Office of Student Conduct recommended indefinitely revoking SJP’s student organization status and suspending Graduate SJP at UCLA for four years in March following the groups’ February protest outside UC Regent Jay Sures’ home, in which demonstrators chanted and left red handprints on his door. SJP has led multiple protests on campus since the university’s decision.
[Related: UCLA recommends indefinite ban for SJP, 4-year suspension for Graduate SJP]
The vigil ended around 10 p.m., with attendees promising to continue their pro-Palestine activism.
“Please turn every single story you’ve heard today into an act of resistance against the forces that may not want us to speak,” one speaker said. “Realize that this moment is bigger than us. It always has been, and it always will be.”
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