The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), along with Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, the Law Office of Colleen Flynn, Attorney Ricci Sergienko, Kleiman/Rajaram, and the Law Offices of Thomas B. Harvey, today announced the filing of a lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for the use of excessive force against peaceful protesters at UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment last spring.
On the evening of May 1 and into the morning of May 2, 2024, hundreds of riot-clad law enforcement agents from CHP and LAPD engaged in a joint operation to forcibly break up the peaceful anti-genocide encampment. Officers tore down the encampment walls, pushed and struck protesters with batons, and indiscriminately fired more than 50 rounds of rubber bullets directly at protesters without lawful justification.
This excessively violent and militarized response caused severe injuries to students and community members, sending some to the hospital with serious wounds, including head injuries, blood loss, and broken bones, and resulted in at least one protester requiring surgery.
The lawsuit seeks to hold accountable the agencies involved in the violent crackdown on protesters, including a declaration that the law enforcement agencies’ actions were unlawful and violated the plaintiffs’ rights.
The plaintiffs also seek compensatory and punitive damages to redress the violations of their rights and injunctive relief to prevent such violent tactics from being used in response to similar protests in the future.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Legal Director Amr Shabaik, Esq., said:
“Across the country, from coast to coast, universities have called upon militarized law enforcement agencies to silence student voices demanding justice for Palestine. Campuses that should be bastions of free thought have become battlegrounds of suppression … This lawsuit is about drawing a line. It’s about saying that students have the right to speak out without being brutalized and violently attacked by law enforcement. It’s about holding law enforcement accountable when they treat dissent as a crime and inflict violence to silence dissenting voices. We will not allow unchecked violence to become the default response to protest.”
In a statement, attorney Rebecca Brown, Esq., said:
“We are bringing this lawsuit to hold law enforcement accountable because CHP and LAPD violated our clients’ rights that are guaranteed and protected under California law. The State of California prohibits this indiscriminate and dangerous use of supposedly ‘less lethal’ weapons on peaceful protesters. But this prohibition is meaningless if we don’t hold law enforcement accountable when they engage in these coordinated attacks.”
In a statement, attorney Thomas Harvey, Esq., said:
“This lawsuit is one of the dozens that have been or will be filed against the police and UCLA, showing the brutality and violence used against faculty, students, and community members in the Palestine Solidarity Encampment. This case once again demonstrates the ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech. Compare the police’s response on May 1 and 2—when they shot our clients with 40 mm kinetic energy projectiles—to their total inaction on April 30, 2024, when a mob ruthlessly attacked [our clients] for more than four hours on live TV.
“Our clients hope this lawsuit tells the story of how a democratic mayor in a liberal city, the democratic governor in a blue state, and the leadership of a flagship university system that celebrates its role in the free speech movement, deployed hundreds of armed riot police against their own faculty and students to violently arrest a peaceful group of anti-genocide protesters.”
In a statement, attorney Ricci Sergienko, Esq., said:
“Let us not forget what happened here just one year ago: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the UCLA administration called in riot police to attack and assault students and community members on campus … The point of repression is to make people afraid to speak out, and the point of calling in the police to fire less-than-lethal munitions at the heads of protesters is to make people afraid to exercise their rights. I believe many people are wondering at this point, ‘What are our rights?’ But people of conscience must continue to stand up and resist. ‘We keep us safe’ means showing up, defending, and protecting those facing repression. That is part of what the lawsuit is about. The state must understand that movement lawyers will not let this violence go unchallenged and unlitigated.”
In a statement, plaintiff David Ramirez said:
“On the last night of the encampment, I found myself on my hands and knees with excruciating pain above my temple. Everything around me was moving slowly. There was nothing but ringing in my ear and uncontrollable bleeding from my forehead. To the students and community members who helped me that night, I want to say thank you for saving my life. Thank you for stopping the bleeding, and sorry for getting my blood on you. Thank you for driving me to the ER and making sure I was okay—I don’t think I would have made it otherwise. One thing is clear: UCLA is not a safe campus for civil and human rights activists, but we remain committed to a free Palestine.”
In a statement, plaintiff Abdullah Puckett said:
“The horrific scene of how militarized police attacked unarmed peaceful protesters—the same night I was shot by police, unprovoked, with my hands up—reflects the [violence] we have all seen [from] the IDF [as they] bomb, and commit mass murder against, unarmed Palestinian women and children. This alone is enough of an argument that all links supporting Israeli militarism should be cut—especially links between the IDF and U.S. law enforcement and military. This is a clear sign that if we don’t stand against the oppression that others, like Palestinians, face abroad, those methods will be used against us here in America. We cannot allow them to continue to use these tactics with impunity—not at UCLA, not in LA County, not in America, and nowhere in the world.”
In a statement, plaintiff Kira Layton said:
“The fear I experienced that night is something that is still with me, and since that day, the police have continued to show up to our campus in riot gear to brutalize and arrest students. Just last week, they sent another student to the ER with injuries. As people exercised the right to free speech and called for an end to a genocide, our institution responded with violence to peaceful protests … We are all implicated in this—our tax dollars and our tuition [are] funding this violence at home and abroad … I ask you to join us in calling for peace in Gaza and calling for an end to the use of violent weapons that function as a way to repress free speech.”
Last month, CAIR California, along with local civil rights attorneys and leading personal injury firms, filed another lawsuit against the UC Regents, UCLA officials, law enforcement agencies, and several individuals who were allegedly involved in the violence against student protesters at the UCLA encampment on April 30, 2024.
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.
Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP is one of the largest and most successful civil rights firms in the country, pursuing justice through individual and class action lawsuits, legal services, education, and community-based efforts.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Digital Communications Manager Enjy El-Kadi, (714) 851-4851 or eelkadi@cair.com; CAIR-LA Senior Communications Coordinator Madi Morse-Hameed, mmorse-hameed@cair.com