Los Angeles, CA - Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside UCLA's Campbell Hall in protest of a planned 32% fee hike that will be enacted later today. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building "Carter-Huggins," after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther leaders who were murdered there in 1969.
The following is from a statement the occupiers posted around the building:
"We know the crisis is systemic - and that it reaches beyond the Regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacramento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society. But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing."
"We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university."
"We therefore ask that those who share in our struggle lend us not only their sympathy but their active support. For those students who work two or three jobs while going to school, to those parents for whom the violation of the UC charter means the prospect of affordable education remains out of reach, to laid off teachers, lecturers, to students turned away, to workers who've seen the value of their diplomas evaporate in an economy that 'grows' without producing jobs - to all these people and more besides, we say that our struggle is your struggle, that an alternative is possible if you have the courage to seize it."
The occupiers have set up a website: http://uclaresists.blogspot.com/
The university administration has issued a brief statement saying that all classes and functions in Campbell Hall have been canceled for the day and encouraged students to avoid the building. So far, there has been no sign of police activity around the building.
Meanwhile, across campus hundreds have gathered to protest the final day of the UC regents meeting, and there is a mood of palpable anger after yesterday's vote by the finance committee to approve the fee hikes.
More updates will be posted as soon as possible.
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Some updates
Here are some updates from the protests.
The occupation is still ongoing, students still control Campbell Hall (renamed Carter-Huggins). Huge protests have been taking place at Covel Commons, where the UC Regents convened their meeting today. Roughly 1000 people gathered outside the building.
When the regents voted on the 32% fee hike, protesters formed a blockade to keep them from leaving the building. Groups of students and works sat down at the entrances to the building, some were attacked by police and bodyguards with pepper spray.
Right now, a van that allegedly contains the regents is being surrounded by students who are preventing it from leaving. More as things develop.
more updates
Apparently police have declared the sit-in an unlawful assembly and are trying to disperse people. Students are reportedly getting tazed. Twitter updates from @GabyTica.
Video footage from UCLA occupation
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-359547
Video from inside the building. This was taken shortly after the occupation ended.
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