After nearly six weeks of a peaceful encampment at Cal State LA, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters took control of a campus building Wednesday afternoon, stranding a half-dozen employees on an upper floor who were told to take shelter in place. Hours later they were still there.
Protesters blocked entrances and exits to the student services building in what university officials called an “unauthorized” action.
University spokesman Erik Frost Hollins said the group of 50 to 100 protesters had blocked first-floor exits and blocked paths around the building. The university asked employees on upper floors to shelter in place and everyone else to leave the area.
As of 9:30 p.m., about six employees were still in the building and unable to leave, Hollins said. A group of law enforcement officers from several agencies gathered in front of the university police station as helicopters flew overhead.
“It's just not an area where we can offer any kind of expectation of safety for employees leaving the building,” Hollins said. “Given that we are in a position where critical parts of the university … cannot do what they need to do, it made sense to encourage all employees and students to leave campus.”
Hollins said the university received an email from the group (the CSU LA Gaza Solidarity Camp, which has been camped near the campus gym for about 40 days) indicating they were organizing a sit-in in the building. They also did not comment on how the university planned to respond, other than to say that campus police “are aware and are in the area.” The Police Department declined to comment.
Hollins said the university had worked hard to provide a space for peaceful, nonviolent protests.
“Unfortunately, this action today took a different direction,” they said.
Shortly after seven p.m., the camp was quiet, with only a handful of people. The space was enclosed with plywood, pallets and metal picnic tables.
Pieces of plywood were painted with the message “Now it's time to climb!” and “CSU stops funding genocide.”
At the student services building across campus, protesters, covering their faces with kaffiyehs and masks, blocked access with yellow umbrellas from across campus. Some of them carried supplies, such as boxes of Yerba Mates, coolers, cups and paper plates.
