Protesters leave UC Irvine after police clear pro-Palestinian encampment

A protest at the University of California, Irvine escalated Wednesday afternoon after demonstrators surrounded a lecture hall on the Southern California campus.

What happened before police arrived?

The administration ordered students to stay away from the Physical Sciences Quad, the location of a pro-Palestinian encampment, after several hundred protesters surrounded the lecture hall at about 2 p.m., according to UC Irvine. 

A UC Irvine spokesperson described the protest as "violent" but could not elaborate on the type of violence. A protester detained by police said the demonstration was peaceful. 

Video from the scene showed protesters creating barricades outside the lecture hall with any items they could find. 

"The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly; however, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly, including violence and vandalism of any kind, will not be tolerated," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer tweeted.

Law enforcement placed four research buildings surrounding the quad on lockdown. However, the university advised anyone inside the buildings to leave the area.

"I value the right to peacefully protest. However, we cannot enable the recent escalations which include the disruption of classes and vandalization of campus property," said Supervisor Katrina Foley. "I reached out to the Chancellor to encourage the administration practice restraint, peacefully disperse the protestors, and subsequently re-engage in negotiations with our students." 

The university canceled all classes following Wednesday's protest. Future instruction will happen online until further notice.

UC Irvine's Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement the administration exhausted all options "before resorting to police intervention."

"It is their decision to transform a manageable situation that did not have to involve police into a situation that required a different response," Gillman said. "I never wanted that. I devoted all of my energies to prevent this from happening."

Police declare an unlawful assembly

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Orange County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol, Newport Beach, Laguna and Irvine Police Departments, responded to the campus to assist the UC Police Department. 

Dozens of police cars were on campus shortly after the protesters started taking over the building. Several law enforcement officers wearing riot gear marched toward the building as police declared an unlawful assembly over a loudspeaker.

Accompanying the declaration, law enforcement ordered protesters to disperse or face arrest. Many protesters did not immediately leave the area; some were locking arms outside the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall. Many wore masks, while others donned hard hats and grabbed umbrellas for protection as law enforcement slowly advanced. 

Police detained numerous people, some of whom were faculty members. Protesters condemned police as they were being led away.

"They are destroying the campus and undoing a democratic, peaceful protest. Shame on them!" one protester, identifying herself as a tenured professor in the global studies department, shouted. "We cannot have a genocidal foreign policy in a democracy. These young people are going to be the people who are going to pay the price for these horrible decisions."

Other law enforcement dismantled the encampment and led the debris to maintenance trucks to ensure protesters do not reclaim them to build more barricades. 

Irvine's mayor denounced the university's actions.

"It's a shame that peaceful free speech protests are always responded to with violence," Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said. "Taking space on campus or in a building is not a threat to anyone. UCI leadership must do everything they can to avoid creating a violent scenario here. These are your students w/ zero weapons."

Despite police dismantling most tents, more protesters flooded into the quad. Demonstrators used the remnants of the encampment to create makeshift barricades as law enforcement continued to march toward the crowd slowly. 

As they inched forward, officers continued to pull away pieces of the makeshift barricades toward maintenance trucks. Once the blockade was cleared, police continued to detain demonstrators. 

The skirmish line pushed protesters to a grassy area dozens of yards away from the original encampment.

At sunset, dozens of protesters started to pray on the lawn as police held their skirmish line.

After that, officers ordered protesters to leave within 5 minutes. It appeared many complied with the order as police advanced into a mostly empty lawn.

Once police regained control of the area, maintenance crews moved in and cleaned the quad with power washers.

Late Wednesday night, the school issued an update saying, "Police activity has concluded. UC Irvine will still have remote instruction on Thursday, May 16. Unless specifically noted, all employees should work remotely as well."

What happened before the protest?

Earlier on Wednesday, student protesters organized a demonstration dubbed "Nakba 76," calling for the administration to drop the suspensions against students. They also demanded the university divest from anything associated with Israel, similar to other protests at college campuses nationwide. 

One of the protesters interviewed by KCAL News said he did not attend the school but lived nearby and came to the campus to support the demonstrators. 

Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic, refers to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948, according to the United Nations. 

Earlier this month, police arrested more than 200 people after clearing a large encampment at UCLA. In April, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested 93 people for a similar protest at USC.

The encampment at UC Irvine first appeared on April 29.