Videos have circulated on social media of pro-Palestinian protesters blocking UCLA Jewish students and others from using campus entrances and the university’s library.
In one video, the protesters formed a moving barrier to block student Eli Tsives, who wears a Star of David necklace, from entering campus on April 29, as a security officer stood nearby. “I’m a UCLA student, I deserve to go here, we pay tuition, this is our school, and they’re not letting me in,” he said to the protesters. “My class is over there, I want to use that entrance … will you let me go in?” The protesters simply tell him that they’re “not engaging” and blocked Tsives every time he attempted to go through the entrance.
“That’s what they do, everybody,” Tsives said. “You guys are promoting aggression, you guys are promoting hate. We are UCLA students, we deserve to be there.”
NEW: Jewish UCLA student blocked from entering his own school while he tries attending class.
Eli Tsives was refused entry by pro-Palestine students on campus according to his post on IG.
"They didn't let me get to class using the main entrance! Instead they forced me to… pic.twitter.com/ui2rYJxny3
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 29, 2024
Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement on April 30: “This kind of disruption to our teaching and learning mission is abhorrent, plain and simple. As such, we’ve taken several immediate actions: Our student conduct process has been initiated, and could lead to severe disciplinary action including expulsion or suspension. The barriers that demonstrators used to block this student’s access to class have been removed and we have staff located around Royce Quad to help ensure that they will not go up again. We have also engaged law enforcement to investigate.
“While the demonstration remains largely peaceful, our campus must remain a place where we treat one another with respect and recognize our shared humanity — not a place where we devolve into violence and bullying,” she added.
Other videos circulated online show pro-Palestinian protesters blocking students from entering the campus; one video showed pro-Palestinian protesters blocking Zionists from crossing a walkway near the school library.
🚨 Happening NOW at @UCLA – politically uninvolved students are blocked from going to class by masked anti-Israel individuals.@UCLAchancellor pic.twitter.com/nXzGGlbzG6
— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) April 30, 2024
Here’s another one from an another friend’s son @ucla. Protestors take over access to area near school library demanding wrist bands and approval to each student passing.
“So you won’t let me in because I’m Jewish?”
“Ummm no… we have a couple Jewish students here … are you… pic.twitter.com/Vf4Kv0KVeS— Stephanie🕊 (@stephsvox) April 29, 2024
Siamak Kordestani, West Coast Director of the Friends of European Leadership Network, claimed in a post on X that an official visiting UCLA told him that “official security is maintaining a perimeter around the anti-Israel encampment. While they’re keeping some students out, they’re allowing others in and out … In these three photos you see one student blocked from entering Royce Quad, then later students wearing keffiyehs are allowed to use Janss Steps. These are official security – not encampment members.” He added that “wristbands are being used to identify anti-Israel students at @UCLA so that they are allowed to enter Royce Quad, Royce Hall, and Powell Library. Some students are allowed in and out, others are kept out. This is ILLEGAL and UCLA is not just tolerating it but facilitating it.”
🚨🚨 An official on @UCLA campus sent me these photos/videos and told me the university is USING TAXPAYER MONEY TO VIOLATE LAWS.
Official security is maintaining a perimeter around the anti-Israel encampment. While they're keeping some students out, they're allowing others in… pic.twitter.com/lnKyXI90uN
— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) April 30, 2024
Wristbands are being used to identify anti-Israel students at @UCLA so that they are allowed to enter Royce Quad, Royce Hall, and Powell Library.
Some students are allowed in and out, others are kept out. This is ILLEGAL and UCLA is not just tolerating it but facilitating it. pic.twitter.com/CbdodKLK53
— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) April 30, 2024
UCLA Hillel Executive Director Dan Gold told the Journal in a text message, “The university has set up barriers in the areas around the encampment … they are also permitting the people inside the encampment to be their own monitors for who gets into those areas and who they do not let in. It’s not specific to Jewish students, but there have been incidents where they ask students if they are Zionists or not. But again, they are doing this for all students, faculty and others.” He added that “the library entrance is right at the area where the encampment starts so that is why the encampment students were trying to bar [people] from entering the library.”
