The University of California- Berkeley is among the latest campuses to join in on the anti-Israel protests sweeping the country, as students occupied part of the Bay Area campus Monday during a sit-in.
UCB Divest, a coalition of students, staff and faculty members, is one of the organizations leading the charge and calling on the community to come out and support their group, in what they call the first encampment of its kind on the West coast, during the occupation of Sproul Plaza.
“WE NEED YOU HERE! We will need you every night throughout this week to take up space with us. We know the Bay Area will not disappoint,” the group posted on Instagram.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters stage a demonstration in front of Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024 in Berkeley, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Organizers told Fox News the encampment is in solidarity with students from Columbia University and elsewhere who’ve been arrested, and say the tents will remain until UC divests from corporations -especially military manufacturers- that are helping Israel with the war effort.
The group is also calling on the university to enact policies to protect Palestinian students, and call for an end “to the violence in Gaza.”
“As students of this university, we have no choice but to take action as UC Berkeley stays silent about our people’s genocide and remains complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians,” the group posted.
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Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters staged a demonstration in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus where they set up a tent encampment in solidarity with protesters at Columbia University who are demanding a permanent cease-fire in the war between Israel and Gaza. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The group told Fox News that they are prepared to be arrested. However, Monday’s rally was reportedly peaceful and there was no sign of police.
Dan Mogulof, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley, told SFGATE that the university is aware of the protests and that it does not plan on changing its investment policies and practices.
“With three weeks left in the semester, Berkeley is prioritizing students’ academic interests,” Mogulof said in a statement. “We will take the steps necessary to ensure the protest does not disrupt the university’s operations.”
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Students are calling for the creation of a Palestinian Studies program, an academic and financial boycott of Israel and a cease-fire in Gaza. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The White House issued a statement on Sunday, condemning violence against the Jewish community in “recent days.”
“This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country. My Administration will continue to speak out and aggressively implement the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, putting the full force of the federal government behind protecting the Jewish community,” the statement read.
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UC Berkeley students have begun a sit-in of the Sproul Hall steps to protest Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza and demand the university end financial connections to companies with ties to Israel. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Protests have erupted at many Ivy League schools and spread to other schools as well, with more than 100 protesters being arrested at Columbia University and the school moving to a fully hybrid learning system for the remainder of the school year.
Fox News Digital reached out to the University of California- Berkeley for comment.
