BERKELEY — A group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took over UC Berkeley’s Anna Head Alumnae Hall on Wednesday, just a day after a large encampment in Sproul Plaza was taken down following an agreement between administrators and demonstrators.
“This is an active crime scene,” said UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof. “They’re vandalizing an unsafe, fire-damaged building.”
News that protesters were occupying the abandoned, fenced-off structure on Haste Street near Telegraph Avenue, was first shared on the Instagram account, People’s Park Berkeley.
The building sits just across from the park, which was established 55 years ago to the day and has been the center of controversy. While the university has sought to develop the site into student housing, protesters have advocated for retaining the lot as open space.
Wednesday’s protest also comes on the 76th anniversary of the first Nakba, an Arabic word meaning catastrophe and used as a reference to the forced disposal of about 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war prompted by the creation of Israel.
For months, UC Berkeley students and faculty have been protesting Israel and its military response to a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. An encampment established April 22 was cleared on Tuesday and Wednesday, following negotiations between a pro-Palestine coalition and administrators.
A demonstrator occupying the vacant building could be heard in the Instagram post calling the university’s promises “empty.” They later said the group of a couple dozen people decided to occupy the building because the encampment wasn’t enough.
“Since the first Nakba, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly exiled from their ancestral homes,” a protester could be heard saying on the video. “Palestine to this day continues to face ongoing colonial settler violence at the hands of the Israeli occupation.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
