SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: June 10, 2024

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances | Other

Institution(s):University of California, Los Angeles

Region & Country:Americas | United States of America

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On June 10, 2024, police used less-lethal means of crowd control, including pepper balls, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Around 25 protesters were arrested.

Around 2pm that afternoon, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA organized a large protest that they called a symbolic funeral. In addition to students, some faculty members also attended the protest. The group engaged in a procession during which people carried fake corpses and bloody body parts before gathering in Dickenson Plaza on UCLA’s campus. There, they poured red food coloring into the plaza’s fountain and red paint onto the steps leading to the fountain. They also read aloud the names of Palestinians killed in Israel’s military action in Gaza. The demonstration initially remained peaceful.

Around 4pm, the University of California Police Department (UCPD) and the UCLA administration declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, and UCPD ordered the protesters to disperse, warning that they may be arrested or subjected to less-lethal weapons if they did not. Around 6pm, after UCPD warned the group that they had 10 minutes to disperse, the group moved to another location, using outdoor furniture to barricade themselves. Around 6:40pm, a UCPD officer ordered protesters again to disperse, and the group moved a second time and continued reading the names of Palestinians who had been killed.

Around 7:25pm, California Highway Patrol, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and Culver City Police Department officers joined the UCPD. LAPD officers dressed in riot gear carried less-lethal weapons. The officers arrested around 27 individuals on allegations of “willful disruption of university operations.” They were issued citations and orders not to enter UCLA’s campus for two weeks. A video posted to Instagram shows one arrest as police roughly grab someone with a microphone and pull them away from the crowd.

Following the arrests, protesters remained on campus for the next several hours, facing off against police. According to the student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, around midnight, police fired pepper balls into the crowd, and the crowd dispersed.

Several injuries were reported to have stemmed from the confrontation. SJP posted to social media that police had shot rubber bullets and tackled, stepped on, and choked protesting students and faculty, causing students to be hospitalized. The Associate Vice Chancellor of Campus Safety stated that six UCPD personnel had also been injured.

UCLA announced that it would take disciplinary action against those arrested.

Scholars at Risk is concerned by the use of force by police to disperse students exercising their peaceful rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly—conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. State authorities have a responsibility to refrain from restricting the nonviolent exercise of such rights. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, the use of force to restrict or deter nonviolent student expression undermines academic freedom and democratic society more generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-10/ucla-pro-palestinian-protest
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/protesters-carrying-fake-corpses-march-across-ucla-campus/
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/local-2/ucla-police-call-an-unlawful-assembly-of-protesters-on-campus/3433424/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/06/13/more-protesters-arrested-ucla
https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/11/pro-palestine-protesters-arrested-following-protests-encampments-on-campus
https://dailybruin.com/2024/06/18/regents-hear-comments-on-pro-palestine-protest-response-nurse-schedule-changes
https://x.com/uclafa/status/1800411495454703932
https://x.com/dailybruin/status/1800423947248492591