Gaza protesters occupying building at rural California university arrested in police crackdown

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Police cracked down on a pro-Palestine demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early on Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.

The public university on California's far north coast said in a statement early Tuesday that an operation by law enforcement, which included police from across the state, had "restored order" to the campus.

"This is a difficult day, it breaks my heart to see it, and truly nobody wanted to see things come to this," Tom Jackson Jr, the Cal Poly Humboldt president, said in a statement.

Like other universities across the country, Cal Poly Humboldt was the site of major protests over the war in Gaza and the mounting civilian death toll. Students said they planned to hold a sit-in, but barricaded themselves in a university building using furniture, tents, chains and zip-ties as police arrived on campus.

Law enforcement officers and students clashed last Monday as police tried to clear Siemens Hall. Video posted by a student activist group showed students chanting "we are not afraid of you" before officers in riot gear attempted to take them into custody. Police could be seen swinging batons at demonstrators as the group pushed them back.

Cal Poly Humboldt said late last week that it would remain closed for the rest of the semester in response to the protests, and accused the demonstrators of "criminal activity". The university suspended all students participating in the occupation and said if students left by Friday at 4pm they would not be immediately arrested, but could still face legal and academic repercussions.

Pro-Palestinian protesters hold up signs while occupying a building on the Humboldt campus, on 22 April. Photograph: Andrew Goff/AP

The students involved accused campus leadership of trying to find a "pretext to bring in paramilitary forces in the form of local, state, other campus [police], and federal agencies".

Police began giving dispersal orders on Monday evening for several hours and said they could use rubber bullets and chemical agents against protesters, before moving into the occupied buildings around 3am. Cal Poly Humboldt said 35 people were arrested and the occupied buildings were "cleared".

Adelmi Ruiz, a reporter covering the operation, was livestreaming when she was briefly detained by police who told her she was interfering with a crime scene. When she identified herself as press and said it was her job to cover what was happening, an officer said: "Well find a different job if it causes you to break the law."

"If you can hear this, I'm being arrested. Send help," she said to her employer over the live stream.

At least one professor was among those arrested on Tuesday.

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Jackson, the university president, has faced criticism from students over the crackdown on protests. In an interview with the Eureka Times-Standard on Friday, he said of the students: "Those who are staying in there are not staying in there for noble causes. They're criminals."

A student group involved with the occupation posted a photo of Jackson's office with graffiti on the wall reading "blood on your hands".

Laurel Krause, whose sister Allison was killed by the national guard during protests in 1970 at Kent State, has praised the students at Humboldt and urged Jackson and other campus leaders to protect students and "refrain from inviting militarized police".

"I am deeply moved by the students of Humboldt Cal Poly who have occupied physical space on their campus to demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza and divestiture," Krause wrote, according to a statement published by a local news site, the Redheaded Blackbelt.

"These students represent the best of us. These students are not 'criminals' despite what some administrators may have publicly alleged. These students should not be arrested, suspended or sanctioned - instead they must be listened to."

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