May 15, 2024
3:11 p.m.
zotALERT: Protest has escalated near Physical Science Quad. Avoid the area. If you are in the area shelter in place for your safety until further notice.
2:53 p.m.
zotALERT: Violent protest confirmed at or near Physical Science Lecture Hall. Avoid the area
At approximately 2:30 p.m. a group of several hundred protestors entered the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall on the UC Irvine campus and began surrounding the building.
The university put out a call for mutual aid to local law enforcement agencies and has received on-site assistance from the Irvine Police Department and Orange County Sheriff’s department as protestors swarmed the campus joining a group of protestors who had established an encampment on the campus on April 29.
Classes have been cancelled for the remainder of the day and the university has notified anyone in the immediate area on campus to shelter in place. We are continuing to monitor the situation and strongly urge people to stay away from the campus.
Updates will be provided on this website as they are available.
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I am receiving reports that the pro-Hamas protesters have occupied the Physical Sciences Building at UC Irvine near the quad where they were holding their encampment. I am in touch with people on the scene. According to what I am being told, the UCI Campus police are at the location and have given a dispersal order. The Irvine PD is also reportedly present. Police helicopters are in the air.
A campus-wide "Zot" alert has been sent out to the campus community that a "violent" protest" is occurring and to avoid the area. Some neighbors and/or others connected to the university (protest supporters) say that there is no violence and the university is lying.
I will keep updating this.
Here is what the little rascals are reporting on their Instagram page. They say that the university has called in the Orange County, Sheriff's Office, Irvine PD, and California Highway Patrol. They (UCI Divest) are requesting members of the community to come to the campus and assist them (the protesters).
Here is how the campus newspaper, New University, is reporting this. They report that police have ordered dispersals. Also that classes are canceled for the remainder of the day and campus employees to work from home tomorrow.
4 pm
This is now getting local news coverage. Overhead shots show that the encampment has been enlarged and police from different agencies are out in force.
5 pm.
Police have now positioned themselves directly facing the protesters. Thus far, a handful of protesters have been taken into custody and police are methodically starting to remove the encampment barriers.
5:25 pm
There is an unconfirmed report that protesters have barricaded themselves inside a lecture hall.
*Update 7:55 pm.
I had to go out for a couple of hours, but I was able to watch police clear the encampment on TV and make an undetermined number of arrests. It appears they handled it professionally. Local radio KFI 640 carried an interview with a UCI professor of Global Studies who can only be described as hysterical. As she was led away in handcuffs, she proclaimed for the world to hear that she was "a tenured UCI professor protesting genocide etc.". She described UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman as "a cruel man" for calling in law enforcement.
Meanwhile, KFI also reported that Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan put out a social media tweet on X supporting the protesters and complaining that "peaceful protests were again being met by violence," basically throwing her own police department under the bus. Earlier, she had announced that Irvine police would not be allowed to respond to UCI.
At this point, as darkness falls, some 100 protesters are faced off with police at the adjacent Aldrich Park area of UCI.
At 10:42 pm, the campus advised via Zot alert that police activity had concluded. No word on the number of arrests.
*Update (May 16). The Orange County Register is reporting that 50 people were arrested either for failing to disperse after an order from police or trespassing. Most have been processed and released with citations. Meanwhile, Chancellor Howard Gillman says he is "heartbroken".
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