Free Palestine Camp: peaceful protest continues on Day 4 at UC Berkeley campus

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — It is day four of the Free Palestine Camp at UC Berkeley, and students say they don’t plan to give up.

“It is important for me to be out here, because I am outraged and devastated by what is going on in Gaza, and the occupation more broadly,” said student Lev Collins.

Collins, who is Jewish, knows the possible risks of being camped out at Sproul Hall, just three weeks from graduation. But he says they are building on similar campus protests from the 1980s to end apartheid in South Africa.

“They camped out on the same steps we are on now. So we draw a lot of inspiration from that,” Collins said.

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Campus leaders says there are now more than 70 tents at Sproul Hall.

The students have four main demands. First, for UC Berkeley to officially declare what is happening in Gaza is “genocide.” They also want the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel or weapons manufacturing. And, for more transparency.

“That is one of our other demands. Disclosure of these investments so that we can a better understanding of where our tuition is actually going,” said student Eli Cohen.

Next, they want the university to cut academic ties with Israeli institutions.

Finally, they want the university to provide more security for Palestinian students and their allies. A confrontation between law student Malak Afaneh and School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and his wife, law professor Catherine Fisk, went viral after Afaneh tried to speak about the war in Gaza at a dinner at the couple’s house.

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“I, myself, never thought that a professor would be able to put her hands on me, and be able to walk away without any consequences. But here we are. And it points to the deep-seated Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism that is embedded in these institutions,” said Afaneh, who is among those camped out at Sproul Hall.

In statement to ABC7 News, the university would not comment about concerns raised about Palestinian student safety. But it added that it is focused on making sure the protest camp doesn’t disrupt the university’s operations.

Afaneh says it’s important to not conflate the protest at camp as a conflict with Jewish or Israeli students.

“This is nothing more than a tactic to try to divide us. But we know that no one is free until everyone is free. And we are standing together today,” Afaneh said.

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