Pro-Palestinian protesters take over UCLA building, flee when cops show up

Protesters demand divestment from Israel and immigrant protections

A pro-Palestinian group protested outside a UC Board of Regents meeting Wednesday at the University of California Los Angeles and occupied a building to demand divestment from Israeli-linked companies, fleeing when police arrived.

In a separate protest the same day, faculty called for the protection of immigrant students and free speech.

About 40 protesters gathered outside the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center in the morning, wearing masks and keffiyehs, the Daily Bruin reported.

Then about half of the protesters “climbed up the Engineering IV building’s stairs facing Gateway Plaza,” displaying banners that read “Don’t look away, keep your eyes on Palestine” and “UCPD, KKK, IOF, you’re all the same,” the school newspaper reported.

The protesters chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest,” and “We will honor all our martyrs.”

They also prevented a Daily Bruin reporter and other journalists from accessing the second floor of the building.

Soon after, approximately ten UCPD officers in riot gear dispersed the protesters outside the building, while another group of about 30 officers, holding weapons and batons, cleared the demonstrators from the building.

The UCLA building occupiers left as soon as police arrived. https://t.co/cfEjgIucKJ pic.twitter.com/RaW8u70P5Y

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) March 19, 2025

Around noon, another 50 protesters, including students and UCLA Faculty Association members, also gathered on campus “in conjunction with all 10 UC Faculty Associations who protested simultaneously on their respective campuses,” the Daily Bruin reported.

They demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia University grad student detained by ICE for his role in disruptive campus protests over the last year. The protesters also called for the protection of immigrant students and faculty.

In addition, they condemned the federal government for attempting to control universities such as Columbia by pulling funds over antisemitism.

UCLA professors and former university faculty gave speeches at the protest, including Anna Markowitz, an associate professor of education, who called on school administrators “not to bend the knee.”

“We are a state with a lot of money, with a lot of resources, with a lot of passionate folks. We can choose to be the model,” Markowitz said.

In addition, Law Professor Noah Zatz read a letter written by UCLA Jewish Faculty and Staff.

“We are vehemently opposed to efforts by the federal government to arrest, deport or pressure universities to discipline students, staff and faculty of UCLA, and people who are deemed completely unacceptable by virtue of their support of freedom for the Palestinian people,” he said.

“Any attempts to invoke our name to harass, expel, arrest or deport members of our campus communities do not protect Jewish people, but instead are a direct attack on democracy and freedom of speech,” the professor said.

Meanwhile, in a lawsuit announced Thursday, pro-Palestinian activists are accusing UCLA of “allowing pro-Israel counterprotesters to terrorize and assault people at an encampment set up on campus last spring,” The New York Times reported.