Pro-Palestinian activists sue UCLA alleging civil rights violations at campus encampment

More than 30 pro-Palestinian activists have filed a civil rights lawsuit against UCLA, alleging the university “repeatedly and systemically” violated the civil rights of protesters during demonstrations at the campus encampment last year.

Plaintiffs said they were deprived of “their rights to assemble, speak, learn, and organize freely and safely” and left with “life-altering injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder,” according to a news release about the lawsuit.

Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the University of California president’s office, said the office had been notified of the lawsuit and was “gathering additional information.”

The lawsuit, announced Thursday, was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It lists 35 plaintiffs — including students, faculty members and legal observers — who were on campus during the protests last year.

In addition to alleging that university officials violated the “civil rights of all pro-Palestinian protesters” and failed to “address and prevent” discrimination, the lawsuit names the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and 20 individuals it calls a “rioting mob” as defendants.

The plaintiffs claim the law enforcement agencies used “excessive physical force” and unlawfully arrested protesters.

The plaintiffs alleged that on May 2, when more than 200 people were arrested at the encampment, police “shot powerful kinetic impact projectiles at peoples’ heads and faces.”

A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol said the agency is unable to comment because of pending litigation. The Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The people the lawsuit describes as a rioting mob are defined as those who participated in a “brutal, hours-long riot” against the encampment. Many of them are identified in the complaint as Los Angeles residents but not members of the UCLA community.

The campus police chief resigned in May after he drew intense criticism over his response to the April 30 attack on the encampment, when videos taken at the scene showed counterprotesters beating people and hitting people with poles.

The complaint alleges that the counterprotesters “violently assaulted protesters” by “breaking their bones, sexually assaulting them” and “burning their eyes with chemical munitions.”

The plaintiffs allege in the suit that “police and private security watched from just a few yards away as the attack raged for hours.”

“It was immediately apparent that there was not a semblance of protection for the physical safety of the encampment members, and the mob had successfully transformed a peaceful, interfaith community space into a site of horror,” the complaint says.

Plaintiffs’ personal testimony included in the lawsuit describes violence they say counterprotesters and police officers inflicted upon them.

A student, Jack Kearns, said a member of the group hit him in the head with “a large piece of wood,” rendering him unconscious. Another student, Faraaz Qureshi, said he was hit with rubber bullets four times, causing a severe open fracture in his finger and contusions and abrasions on his chest and back.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damage for the physical and psychological injuries it said the protesters experienced.

Holbrook said the university has instituted “system-wide reforms to promote safety and combat harassment and discrimination” on UC campuses.