On Wednesday, police violently evicted students who occupied a building on the University of California, Irvine campus to protest against Israeli genocide in Gaza.
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Previously, anti-Zionist students had set up a Palestinian solidarity camp that remained in place for more than two weeks. Yesterday, however, university authorities declared their protest "violent."
That happened after about 300 protesters took over a conference room. Their action occurred at a time when they could not generate disturbances since there were no students attending classes.
Nevertheless, about four hours later, police expelled the protesters from the conference room and broke up their camp. UC Irvine authorities asked employees not to come to campus since classes would be held virtually on Thursday.
The demonstration in Irvine is one of dozens of university protests that have occurred in the U.S. in rejection of the offensive that the Israeli occupation army is carrying out against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Like their colleagues on other campuses, the Irvine students are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for their university to stop investing in Israeli interests.
Since the day the pro-Palestine camp was set up, Chancellor Howard Gillman said the university has been in talks with students but could not reach an agreement to find an “appropriate and non-disruptive” alternative site.
Gillman has said that the university cannot selectively decide not to enforce rules against illegal camping and that he had "made it clear that he will not get rid of Israel."