To UCLA students: Get back up and keep going-we will be right there with you! CODEPINK

CODEPINK LA members were witnesses this week both to the beauty of the peaceful encampment protest at UCLA and the brutality and violence inflicted on the encampment by the police and racist Zionist agitators. 

Volunteers had been there all week delivering fresh food to the students. The encampment was a beautiful, peaceful protest and show of solidarity. No violence. No antisemitism. Just students with moral clarity demanding their college divest from Israel's genocide in Gaza. 

A CODEPINK member, who wishes to remain anonymous, spent eight hours there on Monday delivering food. They couldn't be there Tuesday night due to other obligations. However, another CODEPINK volunteer, Glo, was there and what she witnessed and experienced was horrific. When recanting the attack by the zionists she described a rollercoaster of emotions.

“It was unbelievable how – these so-called cops watched us be terrorized before their eyes - skulls cut open and broken bones - and did nothing but watch,” she explained. “We were peaceful; we didn't fight back, just protected ourselves.”

Glo witnessed the attackers shoot at people's faces. “It was a setup," she described. 

“The cops were there to protect the pro-genocide agitators so the next night - the police could come in and use brutal, violent force to sweep the encampment. It was all an act.” 

During the horrific attack, Glo suffered a dislodged disk in her neck. She still cannot move without immense pain and can barely move her arm. All of this, just from trying to protect peaceful protesters who do not want their university, their tuition dollars funding genocide. 

“We need to get rid of this system. How are people still so blind to this? This police state that protects racism, Zionism, and racism - is the system. They are the thugs, gangsters, and bullies,” Glo said after reflecting on her experience. 

Seeing the violence on Tuesday night unfold online, CODEPINK volunteers were shocked. It was a far cry from the peaceful protest they had witnessed on Monday. One volunteer who was there on Monday knew then they had to go back Wednesday to protect the students. When they got there, they told the student organizers to put them wherever they needed someone. They were ready to put there body on the line to protect UCLA students' right to protest peacefully. For four hours, they worked security, letting people in and out, but cops started gathering at the base of Fowler. They grabbed riot shields to block police and held them off until, eventually, the protesters behind them cleared out. 

"I have never seen a police presence and response like that before," said the volunteer who wishes to remain anonymous, describing the late-night scene. They were able to get out from where they were without experiencing any of the police brutality. Still, many of the others in the encampment were not so lucky. 

More than a hundred people were arrested last night and several were violently assaulted by the police. LAPD reportedly used tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets against unarmed protesters, injuring many defenseless students. 

When asked what he would tell all of the students who experienced police brutality and assault, arrest, and forced to leave the encampment, the CODEPINK volunteer said, "A beatdown and an arrest aren't the worst thing that can happen to you. Living a life without meaning is the worst thing that can happen to you."

For the brave students at UCLA, it is clear that not doing something isn't a choice. They said they are proud and inspired by the students across the country. "There hasn't been a lot of college activism in recent years—at least on this level," they explained. 

As far as any advice to the students on what to do next, CODEPINK LA said it's simple. 

"Take the scar, get back up, and keep going—we will be right there with you."