Fight Back! recently interviewed Fern McBride and Rick Toledo. Both are pro-Palestine activists and SDS members that played important roles in supporting the occupation and the historic resistance at Cal Poly Humboldt, in Arcata, California. What started as sit-on on April 22 escalated into outrageous repression that was, however, met with determined resistance. On May 28, some of the activists had their first court appearance.

Fight Back!: Could you say a few words about how the occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt came about?

Rick Toledo: Due to the excessive violence and genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians, the students at Cal Poly Humboldt decided that they needed to take action. After seeing many encampments spreading all over the nation an emergency meeting was called to plan an action of our own. People from multiple organizations and unaffiliated students gathered to come up with a plan. During the meeting it was decided that a sit-in within the administration building would be the best course of action, and this was the original plan.

However, once the administration reacted to the peaceful sit-in with excessive police violence, the action changed. Protesters worked to defend each other and prevent the police from ending the sit-in while the greater community gathered in support and encircled the police.

The faculty, along with the California Faculty Association, fought for us behind the scenes and helped urge admin to call off the police. After the initial fight many students experienced police brutality and the action became more militant in response to this.

Fern McBride: Students at Cal Poly Humboldt felt it necessary to escalate by standing in solidarity with Palestinians, creating visibility in our community and demanding our university disclose and divest any financial or educational ties with the Zionist government of Israel.

To accomplish this, a group of students organized a sit-in of the university’s main administrative building, Siemens Hall, a form of protest historically allowed and supported by the school.

In response to the peaceful sit-in, where students sang songs, played games, created art, and hoped to host a Passover celebration, the university evacuated the building and created an atmosphere of fear by calling in the police. When the police arrived, they attempted to push their way into the building and became violent with protesters. To protect themselves, protesters began erecting barriers with whatever they could find inside and outside the building.

After police left, students, faculty and community members rallied around those inside Siemens Hall and established an encampment outside to support those students and protect them from further police violence.

Fight Back!: What were some of the big events that took place during the occupation?

McBride: The week-long occupation was full of fun and love despite the hostility from the university administration. The encampment hosted a teach-in with faculty lecturers, multiple concerts, a Seder celebration, and other small events. Protesters were encouraged to engage the community with opportunities to learn, share space, create art, and have constructive dialogue. By responding with violence and militarized police, the administration squandered an immense learning opportunity for their students. Instead, student protesters took it upon themselves, with the support of sympathetic community members and faculty, to create a space which encouraged creativity, relationship building, and hands on learning.

Toledo: Even though there was a militant defensive response in the form erecting barricades, creating security teams, and look-outs, overall, the attitude on the ground was full of love and respect. There was a strong sense of community and free food, medical help, and other services were provided to all students and community members that stopped by. Teach-ins were hosted to help educate people on what is happening in Palestine, with U.S. imperialism globally, and more. Faculty stopped in and joined in on many occasions. Many students reported feeling safer within the occupation than they had in our normal society. This all speaks to the kind-hearted and empathetic nature of the protesters. This action was initiated out of a deep love for our fellow people and in solidarity with Palestinians, and all oppressed peoples.

Fight Back!: Could you say something about the repression that is taking place against students and community members who participated?

McBride: The repression of speech and free expression by Cal Poly Humboldt, the CSU system, and the police has been dumbfounding. Punishing students and community members with severe academic and legal repercussions for actions which resulted from escalation on the part of school administrators is hypocrisy at its finest. Students should be encouraged to speak their minds, radically express themselves, and act as a catalyst for change.

The fact that others and I have had our futures threatened over our willingness to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians shows exactly where our universities and institutions of power stand on this issue. It is cleat that the powers that be are willing to weaponize any means at their disposal, including violence, to silence, suppress, and traumatize those who appose the United States’ war profiteering and their support for the Zionist government of Israel.

Toledo: The administration suspended students without any evidence or warning, and many lost their jobs as a result. SDS has been providing financial assistance to these students who would otherwise be housing insecure at this time. We are doing everything we can to provide as much support as possible and combat the harm inflicted by the administration.

The administration also put out false narratives where they called the protesters criminals and painted a bleak picture of the occupation. They emphasized property damage over human lives and made up extravagant numbers in damages that do not match the reality of the situation at all. They had an army of police occupy and lock down our campus; students felt unsafe just going to the dining halls because they were full of armed officers.

Students who were simply leaving their dorms were arrested by police, even if they were not associated with the occupation at all. One journalist from ABC 23 was even detained by them for simply doing her job. The administration has also recently sent out a vague email warning of “heightened security on campus.” We are still not sure what this entails and, while they claim that it has nothing to do with the occupation, we would argue that the timing clearly contradicts this claim.

Finally, we know that as of May 28, the charges were sent by campus police to District Attorney Stacey Eads. Rather than revoking the suspensions and charges they have chosen to persecute these students for standing against genocide, history will not forget, nor forgive these injustices.

Fight Back!: What is being done to push back against the repression?

Toledo: Legal teams have been organized to deal with the suspensions and the arrests. Palestine Legal has been leading the charge with the suspended students and pushing back against the administration and their claims. Attorney Rachel Lederman is leading a team out of San Fransisco that is defending the arrestees and both legal teams are collaborating with one another.

Meanwhile, SDS and Humboldt for Palestine have been providing supportive care. SDS has provided financial assistance and organized supportive campaigns to help fight for the protesters. We have worked closely with Humboldt for Palestine and other organizations like the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression to launch a national call/email/petition campaign to urge the district attorney to drop the charges. SDS and Humboldt for Palestine held a supportive rally during the arraignment to show the DA that the community is not going to let them charge these innocent students, community members and faculty.

McBride: Students and community members continue to organize against the repression we are facing, but most importantly we continue creating visibility for Palestine. A ‘Free Palestine Graduation’ outside our county courthouse was hosted during graduation weekend, in which each graduate dedicated their degree to a child martyr. Protests continue to be held within the community, events are being organized to decompress and speak about what happened during the occupation, and groups of protesters continue to advocate for a ceasefire and divestment in their own ways.

The administration thought that by raiding our encampment they could weaken and scare us, but they have only made us stronger and more impassioned. This same trend can be seen across the country and the world at hundreds of student encampments. Every time they try to push us down, we rise up even higher and we will continue to do so until Palestine is free from the violence and oppression of Israeli occupation.

Fight Back!: How can the student movement assist the struggle to end Israeli apartheid?

Toledo: The student movement can continue educate, agitate, and organize for Palestine. Building broader coalition and more united actions across the country will help us to put more strain on those in power and to successfully get our campuses to disclose ties with and divest from Israel. It’s up to us to continue to educate people on the truths of the settler-colonial government known as “Israel” and on the injustices that Palestinians have faced since the Nakba.

Many of our universities have deals with Israel and some even have military contracts with them through corporations like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. However, for us to truly succeed in our goals it is imperative that we not only organize on our campuses but that we organize with the greater community as well and continue to struggle against these injustices both on and off campus.

This is the greatest genocide that we have seen since the holocaust, we must continue to escalate for Gaza, Rafah, and all of the Palestinian people, none of us are free, until Palestine is free!

McBride: People have criticized the occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt, saying that due to the small size of our isolated school we can make no impact, but that cannot be farther from the truth. We have heard from student organizers at much larger universities that our actions and resilience have inspired them to escalate further for Palestine. We have even received pictures of children in Gaza thanking Cal Poly Humboldt for our solidarity.

We are a very tiny piece of this resistance movement, and the real resistance is coming from the people of Palestine who face the horrors of genocide every day, so the least we can do it stand with them and leverage our privilege in any way possible.

A few years ago, I would have never imagined the UN International Court would be attempting to issue warrants for the arrest of top Israeli officials, but that has become a reality. This is partially due to the pressure being applied to systems of power at campuses across the globe. We are only a small part of the mosaic of resistance to free Palestine, but every small piece is important, and I can’t imagine not being a part of it.

Fern McBride and Rick Toledo are members of Students for Democratic Society (SDS) at Cal Poly Humboldt.

#ArcataCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #CalPolyHumboldt #Occupy4Gaza #Feature

Austin, TX – On Monday, April 28, around 1 p.m., University of Texas at Austin students and community members gathered on the UT South Lawn to set up a Popular University encampment. A group of around 40 people was quickly joined by hundreds more supporting students, as booming chants of, “Free free Palestine,” echoed throughout UT’s South Mall.

Shortly after the encampment went up, UT police, Austin police and Texas State Troopers wearing riot gear arrived, assaulted and arrested at least 80 protesters. During the attack on the encampment, police used pepper spray and flash bangs on students, threw a disabled person out of a wheelchair, and dragged students on the ground by their legs.

Despite the police violence, students bravely fought back, and the crowd surrounded the police in an effort to stop them from making more arrests. After hours of heated struggle, the massive crowd eventually marched down 22nd Street, pushing the police to retreat off the street.

Hundreds more Austinites arrived to campus to support the now torn-down student encampment, many holding umbrellas to block pepper spray and bringing supplies like food, water and first aid equipment. 

As soon as protesters were hauled to Travis County Jail, over 50 people arrived with drums and megaphones out front to demand the release of all those arrested. Police purposely delayed booking and processing the arrestees, and they are still holding at least 40 of the protesters in jail as of 5:30 a.m. this morning, May 1. Students and community have continued to rally outside the jail for over 36 hours and counting in spite of this repression.

Jules Lattimore, a Students for a Democratic Society member who was at the jail support rally said, “We will not stop fighting, no matter what UT administration or Texas does. We demand divestment, we demand the coward President Jay Hartzell resigns, we demand everyone jailed is immediately freed, and we demand Greg Abbott’s police thugs off our campus. When we fight, we win!”

#AustinTX #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza

New Orleans, LA – Around 2 a.m., May 1, police raided an encampment for Palestine. On Monday, Students for a Democratic Society at Tulane and Loyola organized the camp at Tulane University. Protesters demand that Tulane end all aid to Israel.

That Tuesday, the camp reached its peak at over 300 participants, with many more coming in and out. Musicians played drums and the keyboard, and protesters sang and danced throughout the day. They read literature, screened a documentary, shared meals, and prayed according to multiple faiths. Police displayed a mobile billboard reading “No trespassing” and played loud elevator music from speakers to try to intimidate and drown out the crowd.

Early Wednesday morning, protesters woke up to over 100 riot police from various agencies, including the Louisiana State Police Department. Police arrested over a dozen protesters. Officers then proceeded to line up across both sides of Saint Charles Ave, the street in front of Tulane. They began shoving protesters on the neutral ground and pushed several women directly in their breasts. For over an hour, they gave no dispersal order. The crowd was on public property, so protesters did not know what the police planned to do or where to safely leave. After a tense standoff, the remaining crowd retreated together around 4:30 a.m.

SDS and other organizations have asked supporters to make phone calls to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office to demand the protesters’ immediate release.

#NewOrleansLA #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza #Tulane #Loyola

Irvine, CA – On Monday, April 29, a gathering of about 70 students and faculty swelled to over 200 people to demand that the University of California, Irvine (UCI) divest completely from Israel.

“The community is what keeps UCI running. Without our labor, without our tuition, the university is nothing. So, they are going to bend to our demands! They are going to end their complicity in the genocide in Palestine because we keep this university running, and we are going to take back our university,” a student organizer declared.

Earlier that day, dozens of officers from several departments descended on the campus to repress the Palestine Solidarity Encampment. These departments included Irvine PD, Costa Mesa PD, and Newport PD. 30 officers came from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department alone, decked out in riot gear and face shields.

John Nonato of Anakbayan UCI said of the police, “Throughout the whole encampment today, police have been threatening arrest of the students, just for going to the bathroom. They’ve been preventing supplies, food and water from getting in. They were saying they would arrest people for bringing in the food and supplies. We stood our ground!”

Police erected barricades around the encampment and denied students entry or exit. Officers in riot gear were seen training in parking lots, and jail buses were brought on campus. However, the massive community turnout reinforced the encampment and forced the university to back down on its hardline approach.

Rain Mendoza of Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) said, “UCI has a history of severe police repression. I was a student in 2020 when a wildcat strike for a cost-of-living adjustment took place, and I protested alongside my fellow student faculty. I remember how UCIPD locked down the campus and brutally arrested Shikera Chamndany, an African-American alumni who was not even part of the rally. So, I am proud of the student encampment, their resistance and their solidarity with Gaza. Long live Palestine!”

Prayer echoed across the campus as inside the encampment, tarps were spread out on pavement for worship. Lawyers held workshops to educate protesters on their First Amendment rights. Children wove around tents and police barricades, chasing each other around the encampment while police waited in their cruisers.

Diana Terreros of Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “Students across the country are protesting to end a genocide, and the response of the universities has been to repress these protests with police violence, at times with same police that trains with the IDF [the Israeli military] themselves. These brave students are now risking arrest and academic disciplinary action, such as expulsion. But they are not backing down because they know it's right to stand against genocide and stand for a free Palestine!”

Encampment demands include that the university divest funds from companies that are complicit in the Israeli occupation and genocide, sever its ties with the U.S. military, and revoke all disciplinary action against students. They also include reinvestment in student programs such as housing security, childcare, and ethnic studies.

Nonato spoke on the achievements of the encampment, saying, “Today we were able to meet with administration and get our demands on the table. The biggest accomplishment today was getting this turnout and bringing the community together, showing how powerful the movement is, and that students and workers and faculty are all working together to condemn this genocide. They’re not backing down on their demands!”

#IrvineCA #CA #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza #FRSO

Jacksonville, FL – Student activists and others, led by University of North Florida Students for a Democratic Society, started a Palestine solidarity encampment on UNF campus, demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel as well as complete divestment from Israel financially and breaking of academic ties. SDS activists are also demanding UNF end its partnerships with weapons manufactures like Raytheon and Boeing, all responsible for creating weapons being used by the racist Israeli apartheid state.

Over 50 riot police with the Jacksonville Sheriff Office, along with UNF police, showed up to intimidate the student activists. However, student activists have continued their encampment and insist their demands to be met by UNF administration.

Students are asking the public to contact UNF President Moez Limayem at 904-620-2500 or president@unf.edu and demand he prevent mass arrests of students on campus. Follow UNF SDS on social media for live updates.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza

Tampa, FL – Police deployed tear gas against protesters who erected an encampment in solidarity with Palestine on the University of South Florida campus, April 30. Tampa Bay SDS denounced the attack and vows to continue its efforts.

#TampaFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #Occupy4gaza

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

On Monday, April 29, Tampa Bay SDS held an event at the University of South Florida (USF) to remember the Nakba which was met with admin and campus police trying to shut down the protest in an attempt to limit our free speech. At the conclusion of this protest, Tampa Bay SDS announced our immediate plan to set up a Gaza solidarity encampment at USF. Upon setting up our initial tents and tarps USF admin sent in USFPD to brutalize students and arrest protestors. We absolutely condemn the three arrests made by USFPD. Those arrested were Simon Rowe, who is a USF alumni and community member, one fellow student, and one USF staff member.

We condemn the actions of USF admin and Dean McDonald in their efforts to suppress our right to free speech and our right to protest. We received repeated threats of trespass and arrests for our Nakba Remembrance protest as well as continued threats from admin as we asserted our right to protest. Admin trying to silence our protests and encampments only show that they are scared of student power and continue to support the genocide of Palestinians. Shame on Dean McDonald and all of USF admin for this blatant attack on free speech and shame on them for calling in cops to brutalize students!

We condemn USFPD for exerting brutal force against student protestors and arresting 3 of them. Using brutal force against students including kneeling on a student’s neck is nothing short of deadly. This is part of a recurring pattern as we’ve seen the same USFPD officers that incited deadly violence on students on March 6 of 2024 to what we were put through today with the same deadly force in response to a student protest. Shame on USFPD for using deadly force on students!

We call on all students and faculty to show out for the encampment Tuesday April 30, at 10 am at MLK Plaza.

All faculty out to protect students!

Disclose! Divest! We will not stop we will not rest!

#TampaFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #USF #Statement #TampaBaySDS #Occupy4Gaza

Denver, CO – On Saturday, April 27, the Auraria Encampment for Palestine entered its third day. Despite police violence and the arrest of 44 protesters the day before, campers were in high spirits to continue.

The encampment is organized by Students for a Democratic Society with community support from the Colorado Palestine Coalition. Throughout the day, hundreds of students, faculty and community supporters spent time at the camp. At 1 p.m., there was a rally featuring speakers from SDS, supportive city council members, and veteran organizers from groups such as the American Indian Movement.

“When we went to the United Nations to develop an indigenous people’s presence at the UN in the 1970s and the 1980s, our greatest ally was the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Dr. Glenn Morris, a professor at CU Denver.

Morris continued, “Those people in Boulder, those people in Colorado Springs, at DU, at Regis, there should be this on every campus – they don’t have enough cops to deal with all that!”

Then the encampment received a visit from Angela Davis, founder of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression(NAARPR) and national leader of Black liberation movement since the 1960s. “As a person who has been active in the movement to develop solidarity with Palestine since the 1960s, this is the movement we’ve all been waiting for,” said Davis to thunderous applause.

SDSers who had just been released from jail from the previous days’ arrests, returned to the camp immediately after release to speak to the crowd. By the end of the night, the encampment had grown significantly, and protesters celebrated one more night of maintaining the camp.

#DenverCO #CO #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NAARPR #AngelaDavis #Occupy4Gaza #Feature

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from SDS Humboldt and Occupy Cal Poly Humboldt

On April 27th, 2024, Cal Poly Humboldt students, with the mediation of faculty, have reached out to administration in hopes of reengaging negotiations. Students have collectively decided they will vacate Siemens Hall if their demands are agreed to. These are as follows:

1. Deescalate: no police presence and no academic consequences

2. Divest: audit of financials and no more investment in Israel

3. Declare: Ceasefire statement from CPH encourage CSU system to do the same

It is confirmed that this offer is in the administration’s hands. We are eagerly awaiting their response. Students remain committed to a peaceful demonstration and negotiation process. We call on our community to share this message widely and, if possible, come to campus to bear witness of our demonstration and police response.

Signed,

SDS Humboldt and Occupy Cal Poly Humboldt

#ArcataCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #CalPolyHumboldt #Occupy4Gaza

Los Angeles, CA – On April 24, thousands of student activists and community members occupied Alumni Park in the middle of the University of Southern California (USC) to protest the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Student activists demanded that the university divest from corporations that sell weapons and technology to Israel, a complete academic boycott of Israel, and an end to its silence on the genocide of Palestine.

Outrage by USC students, staff and the public erupted after university canceled class of 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s graduation speech, and then all speeches. Tabassum is a biomedical engineering major who resists genocide. She is also a South Asian American Muslim and wears a hijab. When asked, she stated that she believes the school canceled her speech because of her public support for the human rights of Palestinians.

Alumni Park was occupied by student protesters starting Wednesday morning, April 24, in an act of solidarity with numerous universities and colleges all around the United States, as part of the Gaza encampment movement. Students gathered this morning to bring attention to the genocide going on in Palestine being committed by Israel with the funding and support of the United States.

Jody Armour, a USC law professor who was at the occupied Alumni Park in full solidarity with the students and their fight, commended them for fighting for what’s right. He uplifted the name of Tabassum who was silenced by USC administrators, including Errol Southers, an ex-FBI agent and now one of the officers in charge of the USC public safety department. Armour said, “These violence workers came into the camp. They tore down the tents. They brutally assaulted some of us and the reason I call them violence workers, let’s be honest about who they are, their tools are guns and batons. When your tools are hammers every problem you have is a nail.”

USC President Carol Folt and administration called in university police in riot gear to brutalize students staging protests on their campus. Campus police handcuffed an organizer of the Palestinian Youth Movement but were forced to let him go once the students stopped the police squad car from leaving. The campus was then closed off to the public, only allowing students to enter, checking IDs at main entrances. However, this was still easy to bypass, and activists continued to hold their ground at the park despite the brutal attack and the confiscation of camping gear and banners.

Gabriel Quiroz from Centro CSO said, “I saw the videos of students at USC protesting in solidarity with the campus encampment movement and I was very happy seeing the young students and local residents rising up! It inspired me to come out and back them up. As a member of Centro CSO one of our main focuses is community control of LASD and police accountability so I thought it was very important to come down here and hold the cops accountable! ”

Arrests

After unlawful assembly was declared by campus police, students and supporters then locked arms and prepared themselves for arrest. Over 100 LAPD riot troops conducted violent mass arrests and loaded pro-Palestine students into white vans while aiming weapons at protesters. The protest spread across campus. Students blocked traffic on the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street, outside of one blocked entrance. Around 9 p.m., LAPD held the line, preventing people from walking through an entrance, where they shot lethal riot munitions at protesters who were violently forced off campus.

93 students were arrested by LAPD and detained in two different holding locations. They were all charged with trespassing.

As university encampments like the one at USC develop throughout the country, the National Students for a Democratic Society issued a solidarity statement with all students facing campus administrative and police attacks. It reads in part, “SDS condemns these cowardly acts on free speech, the right to assemble and academic freedom. It is right to stand with Palestine!”

#LosAngelesCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #Occupy4Gaza #CentroCSO

Something big is happening. From Columbia University to UCLA and points in between, the student movement that stands with Palestine has been erecting encampments on campuses. The results have been powerful. The demand for universities and colleges to divest from, and break all ties with, Israeli apartheid serves to weaken the apartheid regime.

Politicians from both parties of big business have chosen to weigh in. The White House has denounced the demonstrations, Trump says the protests are a “disgrace,” and House Majority Leader Johnson wants the National Guard called out. By building the encampments, taking over buildings and taking to streets, the student movement is challenging the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. Students have joined a march that ends in the liberation of every inch of Palestine.

The repression that is being dished out by school administrators who run to local and state police, and even the FBI, is testament to how much this movement has already accomplished. It is driving home the point that Israeli apartheid is no better than the system of white minority rule that existed in South Africa. It is criminal and cruel – it must go. Those who are complicit with apartheid Israel are being judged accordingly.

This wide scale solidarity with Palestine is putting incredible pressure on the Biden administration and the entire Democratic Party. The White House is facilitating the genocide in Gaza and a growing section of traditional Democratic Party voters are anger and alienated. There is a war of liberation going on in Palestine.

This U.S. government is on the side of genocide. The student movement stands with those who aspire to freedom, and by doing so it undermines the ability of the U.S./Israel to wage war. That is why it is being treated as such a threat by the powers that be.

School administrators and others are lying to demonize this movement. They say foolish things like “it’s antisemitic to demand an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine” or that those who support resistance to occupation are supporting “terrorists.” In fact, it is those who attack pro-Palestine students that are calling good “evil” and evil “good.” So, these same administrators and their pals in politics resort to repression. They ban student groups, pass laws against student activism, and send out the cops to shut down the encampments. They will fail. Those who resort to repression will find they are lifting up a heavy rock, only to drop it on their own feet.

Likewise, those in power who try to divide the campus on the Palestine issue will not succeed. They try to pit students against non-students, “peaceful” protesters from the more militant, and try to police what activists can think and say. The fact that Palestine encampments are spreading – rapidly – is the best refutation of this trickology.

Now is the time to add fuel to the fire. Students can make a powerful worldwide movement to liberate Palestine. Institutions of higher education need to break all ties with apartheid Israel. No more U.S. aid to the Israeli occupation. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

#FRSO #Statement #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza #Feature

Denver, CO – On Saturday, April 27, the Auraria Campus Encampment for Palestine entered its third day. Despite freezing temperatures and downpouring rain, dozens of protesters have remained through the second night at the encampment.

The previous day the encampment faced attacks from the Denver Police Department. After arresting over 70 protesters, DPD retreated from the encampment before returning a few hours later. Dozens of riot police surrounded the encampment and issued an order to disperse. The crowd linked arms and did not move.

Eventually, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston arrived at the campus to speak to CU Denver Chancellor Michelle Marks. The mayor then came out to the encampment and told organizers that they had to move their tents, or they would be arrested. The protesters refused.

After the mayor left, riot police remained near the encampment for several hours before finally leaving the encampment for the night. Protesters cheered as the police retreated and celebrated one more night holding the encampment.

#DenverCO #CO #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza #Feature