The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today condemned the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)’s ongoing targeting and criminalization of pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide speech on campus after the University of California Police Department (UCPD) arrested two more protesters on campus yesterday afternoon.
SEE: 2 protesters arrested during on-campus demonstration remembering Nakba Day
On May 15, UCLA students gathered on campus for a student-led demonstration commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their land by Israeli forces. Five officers from the UCPD were reportedly present from the beginning of the demonstration.
At 12:30 p.m., as the student group began marching toward Dickson Plaza, UCPD arrested one of the protesters. Shortly after, UCPD officers ran toward the crowd of students and arrested a second protester.
Earlier this month, on May 1, UCPD officers wearing riot gear and armed with less-than-lethal weapons detained two individuals in an escalated police response to a student-led screening of the documentary film “The Encampments” on UCLA’s campus. This escalated police response came just one year after hundreds of riot-clad law enforcement agents, including UCPD officers, forcibly broke up UCLA’s peaceful anti-genocide encampment on May 1 and 2, 2024, causing severe injuries to students and community members and arresting around 200 protesters.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Civil Rights Managing Attorney Dina Chehata, Esq., said:
“Once again, UCLA has mobilized law enforcement against peaceful, anti-genocide protesters. UCLA has become a symbol of institutional repression as its leadership continues to use intimidation and law enforcement to stifle student activism.
“These actions are a chilling reminder that dissent in defense of Palestinian life is being met with targeted force. Each arrest and student suspension deepens the stain on the university’s legacy and exposes a leadership more committed to silencing its students than protecting their rights.
“We cannot allow this institution to normalize the criminalization of conscience. If we are to preserve a functioning constitutional democracy, we must defend the rights of students to peacefully protest injustice without fear of punishment or police retaliation.”
In March 2025, CAIR California, along with local civil rights attorneys and leading personal injury firms, filed a lawsuit against UCLA, three law enforcement agencies, and several individuals who violently attacked student protesters.
UCLA has a long and well-documented history of discriminating against pro-Palestinian views. CAIR and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also previously designated UCLA as an “institution of particular concern” due to its complicity in the creation of a hostile campus environment for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, and Jewish students, staff, and faculty opposing Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The UCLA Taskforce on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab, & Anti-Muslim Racism has issued three reports outlining the pattern of targeted discrimination and harassment of UCLA students and faculty speaking on Palestine and offered several recommendations, which UCLA has reportedly ignored.
Earlier this year, CAIR’s national office released its 2025 Civil Rights Report, “Unconstitutional Crackdowns,” which reveals that Islamophobia continues to be at an all-time high across the country. CAIR said viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Enjy El-Kadi, (714) 851-4851 or eelkadi@cair.com; CAIR-LA Senior Communications Coordinator Madi Morse-Hameed, mmorse-hameed@cair.com