Around 150 people protested outside a UC Board of Regents meeting Tuesday to call for divestment from companies associated with the Israeli military and condemn the continuation of the Israeli military’s bombing of the Gaza Strip. 

The protest – led by organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA and the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire chapter – began with a noon press conference in front of the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, where the regents are meeting from Tuesday to Thursday. Speakers demanded the UC divest from Maersk, a shipping company they alleged has delivered military cargo to Israel, and condemned Israeli airstrikes that killed more than 400 Palestinians on Tuesday morning.

Part of the protest overlapped with the regents’ discussion of the University’s investments.

Protesters chanted, “Julio Frenk, pick a side, divest from genocide,” and, “Open up the prison gates.” They marched toward Bruin Plaza around 1 p.m. and circled the conference center, delivering additional speeches at its entrance facing Pauley Pavilion before returning to picket in Gateway Plaza. 

Members of SJP and Graduate SJP at UCLA were present alongside representatives from United Auto Workers Local 4811’s rank and file for a Democratic Union caucus, the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, and the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 36. 

“Palestinians in Gaza are now entering the second consecutive night of Israeli bombardment after Israel sabotaged a ceasefire deal, leaving millions of Palestinians at risk as they resume their death and destruction,” a representative from Graduate SJP and the UAW Local 4811 rank and file caucus said in a speech. “But this gruesome violence does not happen in a vacuum. The past several weeks have also seen staggering attacks on civil rights in the United States to suppress any criticism of Israel.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Tuesday morning airstrikes after Palestinian political party and militant group Hamas refused to agree to new Israeli demands to return half of the remaining hostages taken Oct. 7, 2023 – though Israel did not mention returning any Palestinian prisoners, according to the Associated Press. The airstrikes ended a ceasefire in place since January and would be “only the beginning,” Netanyahu said. 

A spokesperson from the White House said the U.S. supported Israel’s decision, according to AP. 

The speaker also condemned UCLA’s newly announced Initiative to Combat Antisemitism and the Feb. 12 suspension of both SJP and Graduate SJP at UCLA. 

An SJP member who did not give their name also condemned the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They said they do not believe UCLA will protect students involved in campus protests from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE. 

“What have UCLA’s actions shown every day?” the member said in a speech.  “Hundreds of student conduct charges, threats of expulsion for students who speak up, the constantly increasing surveillance and harassment of students by UCPD and private security.” 

[Related: Pro-Palestine groups protest detainment of Columbia demonstrator Mahmoud Khalil]

Frenk said in a campuswide email Wednesday that the university does not release the immigration status of students without a “judicial warrant, subpoena, court order” or other legal mandate.

A counter-protester waving Israeli and American flags began shouting at pro-Palestine protesters at the conference center entrance facing the James West Alumni Center around 1:45 p.m. They were later joined by another counter-protester draped in an Israeli flag.

Protesters continued to circle in Gateway Plaza before breaking for lunch around 2:45 p.m. The protest ended around 4 p.m., when organizers announced they would return Wednesday. 

Noura Khoury, an LA resident whose cousin works at UCLA, said they skipped work to attend the protest after waking up to the news of the Israeli airstrikes.

“It’s our country that is funding and supporting the genocide that’s happening over there,” Khoury said. “As the citizens of this country, we have to tell our elected officials that we do not agree to this. … If the power is truly with the people, that’s the action that we need to take.”