Hundreds of pro-Hamas protestors stormed a building at the University of California, Irvine on Wednesday, prompting local law enforcement to warn students to "shelter in place.”
The demonstration escalated after they swarmed and occupied the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall on the California campus and began to barricade the building.
According to law enforcement, the group of pro-Hamas protestors who stormed the building was the same group who set up the encampment and occupied the area since April 29.
UC Irvine students have just stormed & occupied a university building, and now #UCI is reporting an escalation of violence.
— Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez (@AsmKateSanchez) May 16, 2024
Who could have predicted this?! It’s not like this JUST happened at UCLA…#CALeg pic.twitter.com/nTMezScFVx
The protestors chanted "Long live Palestine” while clashing with police officers. They also yelled "Free, free Palestine” and "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”
Hundreds of police officers in riot gear confronted the protesters, prompting a tense and chaotic moment between the two groups.
🚨BREAKING: UC Irvine’s Pro-Palestine encampment has overtaken the science lecture hall on campus.
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) May 15, 2024
Law enforcement is seen preparing to arrest those mobs.
Arrest them all!!! pic.twitter.com/buueESuzgJ
The protestors began stacking the tents on top of each other in an attempt to block the building.
However, law enforcement forced their way past the pro-terrorism agitators and began dismantling the tents.
Students for Justice in Palestine and the UCI Divest Coalition said that the mission of Wednesday's protest was to demand UCl drop student suspensions related to the encampment and "to demand UCI end its complicity in genocide.”
🚨Drone footage I took of police making arrests on students in helmets and gas masks at UC Irvine - follow for live updates pic.twitter.com/XHm9aaPVZP
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) May 16, 2024