By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
Hundreds of activists and students in support of Palestine gathered at the Central Jail Monday afternoon to protest against the arrest of sixty-four students and advocates at the UCSD campus. Speakers at the rally showcased solidarity with their detained peers, condemning the acts of hate, harassment and violence targeting their freedom of speech.
As the sun rose at Monday morning at approximately 6 a.m, San Diego Sheriff’s Deputies arrived in riot gear at the UCSD campus to forcefully remove and disperse the Gaza solidarity encampment. At this time, sixty-five students have been arrested and are being held at the San Diego Central Jail and Las Colinas Detention Center. Based on student reports, law enforcement infringed upon “peaceful, sleeping” protesters.
“The police force that we were met with today were snipers standing on the Student Health Building and the fact that we saw officers ready to deploy rubber bullets in crowds who had every right to protest peacefully,” said UCSD student speaker at the press conference in front of the Central Jail.
According to a statement shared with Voice & Viewpoint from the university,
“This encampment violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.”
Furthermore, the Chancellor’s office says that: “UC San Diego encourages and allows peaceful protests, but this encampment violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.”
One of the identified risks within campus communities is a large increase in hate crimes and hate related events targeted towards both Jewish and Palestine students. Heightening tensions in the ongoing Israeli-Hamas War have manifested through the forms of vandalism, hate littering, hate speech and violent hate crimes, specifically intensifying at clashing demonstrations.
US antisemitic incidents hit an all time record high in 2023 since the war broke out on October 7. Incidents increased by 140% compared to last year, amounting to an overall total of 8,873 recorded antisemitic incidents— a record high since the group began keeping track in 1979, the Anti-defamation League’s report noted.
PHOTO: Macy Meinhardt/ Voice & Viewpoint
On the other hand, a report recently produced by the Council of American Islamic Relations also reports a troubling increase by 23% in hate crimes against Muslims compared to last year. Findings show that the office of CAIR filed more than 8,000 complaints of anti-Muslim bias in 2023, many of which were in the three months following October 7.
Violence however, wasn’t the way to solve this, students argue. In the remarks made by students, activists, and alumni, speakers criticized the UCSD administration’s violent response, arguing that it violated democratic principles, showed harassment and discrimination, and endangered the wellbeing of students.
“UCSD uses the same tactics that the Israeli occupation forces are using on our people in Gaza and on our students who’ve been peacefully protesting at UCSD for several days,” a student shared.
The student speaker also claimed that the administration was unwilling to negotiate and was “intimidating students” for speaking out, with threats of suspension. Intimidation tactics aimed at people for their ethnic or racial identity are umbrellaed under hate crimes and related bias incidents.
In addition to arrests, it has been reported that multiple people were pepper sprayed, and hit with a baton by law enforcement on scene.
Twenty-four of the arrests are either unidentified at this time or are unaffiliated with the university. Two minor injuries were reported. As of press time there is no record of their anticipated release, however students believe it could be by the evening.
Voice & Viewpoint will continue to follow this situation closely and will provide periodic updates to this page. As a Stop the Hate partner funded by the California Department of Social Services, our publication aims to start a conversation on how communities affected by hate–such as Jewish and Israeli Students on college campuses–can begin to heal and move forward.
“It takes more to ‘stop the Hate’ than saying the words,” our publisher Dr. John E. Warren states in his editorial. “It takes self examination as to how we want others to treat us and realizing we must give that same treatment and respect because the objects of our thoughts are just as human as we are.
“The solution is encouraging the development of personal reflections on the harm and inhumanity that is inflicted on others when we respond in hatred to that which either we do not understand, dislike or have a fear of because of the difference we see in someone else,” he writes.
Join us as we discuss the topic of identifying Victims of Hate & Solutions For Healing further with the community in our upcoming Stop the Hate Townhall on May 23rd 6-8 at the Live Well Center.
This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to https://www.cavshate.org//
