Pro-Palestinian protestors reiterate demands as protest enters Day 4

It’s a somber day on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus with a makeshift tent city outside of Siemens Hall.

Chalk messages calling for a free Palestine and other phrases continue to line the campus walls and pathways.

It’s a much different atmosphere than on Monday night when 30 students occupied Siemens Hall to begin the pro-Palestinian protests.

“This was a pretty big moment because they were the first to actually occupy a building on campus. At the time, I was a legal observer and saw scenes of excessive police force. They didn’t think it was gonna escalate like this so it was a heartbreaking situation,” legal observer Rick Toledo said.

Toledo is working with the protesters as part of Students for a Democratic Society, an activist organization that began in 1959.

He has been offering media training for the student protesters.

“Sometimes you might have certain media that are dishonest in their intentions, I’m not saying that about you all, but they may have an agenda or word questions in a certain way,” Toledo said. “We try to teach them if you are confronted with something like that, don’t let it scare you, don’t let it shake you up, be calm and remember what you are here for.”

One of the students involved with the protesters spoke with us reiterating their demands.

“One, fully disclose their financial investments and divest from any organization associated with or profiting from Israel. Two, we’re calling on the university to sever all academic ties with Israeli academic institutions,” Jackie Three, we’re calling on the university to publicly call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

They also ask that no students face repercussions for participating in the protests.

“I hope the final result will be the university accepting our demands without calling the police and the protesters vacating,” Jackie said. “We had a large number of people express their eagerness to restore the campus to its existing conditions, put back all barriers, and even help repaint all graffiti.”​​​​​​​

As for the question of those who organized the protests…

“There was no official organization behind this protest. It was purely autonomously,” Jackie said.