UC Berkeley protesters vow to keep camping out until they get their way
BERKELEY, Calif. - As the final day of classes at UC Berkeley came to a close on Friday, pro-Palestinian protesters showed no signs of backing down.
"We have to do everything we can, given that relative, you know, privilege to be out here and to really push as hard as we can," said UC Berkeley Divest Coalition’s spokesperson Matt Kovec.
While demonstrations have turned violent at college campuses around the country, at Cal, the UC Berkeley Divest Coalition has led a peaceful protest.
Students have taken turns camping out, and they’ve grown from about a dozen tents on Monday to more than 70 by Friday.
Undergrad Cecilia Lunaparra showed KTVU around the tent she shared with five fellow Bears.
She was just elected the week before to represent district seven on the Berkeley City Council in a special election.
"Our tuition dollars are currently going to corporations that are aiding this genocide," Lunaparra said.
Students protest at UC Berkeleys campus with tents.
Protesters are calling for the university to divest from those companies, to end its silence on Gaza, to cut ties with Israeli universities, and to protect students organizing in support of Palestine.
Supporters are lending their own creativity to the cause, with a chalk artist sketching a bird onto the plaza, bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.
"It’s kind of a way that I grieve and a way that I can really just show my solidarity," Nicky Gott said with chalk in hand.
Others are old enough to remember Berkeley’s historical role as the home of the free speech movement.
"I remember the ‘hell no we won’t go’ during the end of the Vietnam War," the father of an incoming Cal student, Craig Hilliard said. "Sometimes you have to throw enough logs on the fire to create a big enough smoke signal."
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Organizers said the protesters were several hundred strong.
Judy Greenspan, a teacher from Oakland and member of Bay Area Labor for Palestine, felt compelled to join them.
"It is very, very important that Jewish educators come out in support of the students, Palestinian, Jewish, progressive activists who are basically risking everything," Greenspan said.
Organizers said these protests will continue until the university agrees to divest, but a spokesperson for the university said they will not be changing any investment policies.
Berkeley is allowing the protests to continue because there haven’t been any disruptions to classes.
A spokesperson for the university told KTVU they have been instructed by the president of the University of California system to avoid calling police unless there is a threat to campus safety, which hasn’t happened.
Amber Lee contributed to this report.