Pro-Palestinian groups organize walkout to commemorate ‘one year of resistance,’ halting campus entry
Gates closed at every campus entrance as students took to the surrounding streets in a walkout on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Participants at the walkout organized by pro-Palestinian student organizations on October 7, 2024. (Photo by Samantha Lee)
By Samantha Lee, Andie Kirby, Alexandra Evans, Caitlin Roehmholdt, and Lindsay Augustine
October 07, 2024 at 7:59PM PDT, read on site.
On Monday at least 100 students, faculty and other protesters, most covering their faces with keffiyehs, sunglasses and masks, marched out of the Trousdale and Jefferson entrance of campus to mark “one year of the U.S.-funded Israeli genocide of Palestinians,” according to an Instagram post by the organizers. The walkout, while peaceful, disrupted campus entrances and left some students stuck outside of USC.
The event was organized by a coalition of student groups including USC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Divest from Death USC, the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation at USC and Jewish Voice for Peace at USC. A post circulated on Instagram asking participants to join and “demand USC to cut ties with genocide.”
Marchers were told by SJP members not to engage with any media or police.
A USC Marshall graduate and media liaison for SJP, told Annenberg Media that the goal of the event was to remind USC of the group’s presence.
“We’re here today to mark that day, to honor our martyrs,” the liaison said.
“There’s no business as usual during a genocide,” she continued. “October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. It was the result of decades of occupation.”
On October 7, Hamas, a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., launched an attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 and taking 250 more as hostages, according to the Associated Press. In the year since, over 41,000 have been killed in Gaza by Israel in response to the attacks, according to the United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza. Recently the conflict has escalated to neighboring countries, including Yemen and Lebanon.
Members of USC SJP shared opening remarks addressing the reasons behind the walkout.
“The horrors are countless. One year of air strikes on schools, libraries, bakeries, refugee camps, ambulances, universities, neighborhoods, mosques and churches. One year of men, women and children torn to pieces [by bombs],” a spokesperson for SJP said. “We will continue fighting for our demands of social liberation until all our people are free.”
USC Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers were already waiting at Trousdale Parkway’s entry before the group gathered for the walkout. Students attempting to enter campus through the gate were turned away by DPS and redirected to other entrances.
At around 12:20 p.m., after roughly an hour of speeches from SJP members, the walkout began marching toward McClintock Avenue, aiming to complete a lap around the entire perimeter of campus.
“Let’s continue shutting things down…until we get to all the gates on campus,” the march leader shouted through a megaphone.
Each campus gate closed for entry as the march passed. Attendees chanted “student intifada,” an Arabic phrase for a rebellion or uprising, while drumming on buckets. One student waved the Palestinian flag. “Glory to the martyrs,” “Steadfast until liberation” read some signs.
Walkout members in yellow vests redirected traffic, forcing cars to turn away from intersections so the march could occupy the center of the road. Several passing cars and public buses cheered and honked at marchers, while Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and DPS vehicles patrolled Exposition Boulevard.
DPS had planned to increase its presence on campus in preparation for today, Annenberg Media reported last week. DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle said he expected officers stationed throughout places of worship and LAPD support on campus. Police gated and guarded Tommy Trojan, and LAPD cars were stationed on Exposition Boulevard to monitor the march as it passed.
“We are not going to intervene in demonstrations or take sides in any way,” Carlisle said.
Security Ambassadors, who check students in using their IDs at each of the gates, said they were unaware of the walkout taking place. ID-based check-in has been required at all campus entries since May when encampment protests on campus led to heightened security. Armed and unarmed officers guarded campus from inside the USC gates.
“USC doesn’t have a great relationship with South Central and the local region anyways, and so they’ve just further militarized campus and made it a very unsafe and unwelcome place,” the SJP liaison said. “So we’re trying to break down those barriers, not physically, but just [by] connecting with our community again.”
Members of SJP said they feel that USC hasn’t handled the protests or the call for divestment in a peaceful manner. During the opening remarks, an SJP member said that USC has “a chance to stand on the side of justice, on the side of our people, but they refuse. In fact, our administration has only heightened their tactics of repression instead of hearing their students call for divestment.”
The march ended where it started, outside the Trousdale entrance, at around 2:00 p.m. Through the shut gates, DPS officers attempted to take photos of marchers’ faces, who soon dispersed.
Today’s walkout remained peaceful, and LAPD and DPS did not use physical force against the protest’s participants.
This year, SJP hosted a sit-in at new student convocation, a candle-lit vigil grieving Palestinian losses and a walkout to demand “divestment, liberation, and return,” among various other events. SJP has two other events planned this week – an art workshop set for Tuesday and a study-in on Wednesday.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 8 at 5:30 p.m. to clarify why protestors remained anonymous.