Pro-Palestinian protesters at Cal State LA create barricade at campus building

A group of 50 to 100 pro-Palestinian protesters at California State University, Los Angeles blocked entrances and exits of the student services building, reportedly trapping a handful of university employees inside the building Wednesday night.  

Aerial footage of the demonstration captured by Sky5 showed protesters, some wearing face coverings and kaffiyehs fashioning a barricade of toppled golf carts and picnic tables with umbrellas around the perimeter of the building earlier in the day.  

In front of one of the building’s entrances, several demonstrators sat in chairs chained to cement columns.  

Another individual was seen spraying a fire extinguisher at the building over what appeared to be red-colored paint on the ground.  

Demonstrators had established an encampment on another part of the university’s campus where they have been for some 40 days, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times.  

University spokesperson Erik Frost Hollins told The Times that they received an email from the group CSU LA Gaza Solidarity Encampment informing them that they planned a sit-in at the student services building despite the fact the school had gone out of its way to provide an area for non-violent, peaceful demonstrations.  

“Unfortunately, this action went in a different way today,” the university told The Times.  

By 10 p.m., officers with the Los Angeles Police Department along with campus police were visible on campus from Sky5, though it’s unclear how long police maintained a presence.

This demonstration comes on the heels of recent pro-Palestinian encampments at UCLA and USC.