Crime & Safety

Occupy UCLA Protest Expected Monday

Another protest is anticipated at the Occupy LA camp in front of City Hall.

Demonstrations may boil over at both L.A. City Hall downtown and UCLA in Westwood on Monday, as protests are planned by people intent on committing civil disobedience -- and possibly getting arrested -- in both locations.

A University of California regents meeting on Monday will draw hundreds of protestors, and the order by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for Occupy L.A. activists to decamp from City Hall Monday may be coincidence, protestors said.

Confrontations that may provoke arrests are planned at both locations, activists at Occupy Los Angeles and at UCLA said today.

Find out what's happening in Westwood-Century Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At UCLA, students plan to stage loud demonstrations under the banner "Make Millionaires Pay'' as the Board of Regents attempts to hold a meeting for the second time this month. An earlier meeting, in San Francisco, was cancelled amidst security concerns.

The UC system has been rocked by amateur video of UC Berkeley police using batons against limp protestors, and UC Davis police calmly dousing students sitting on a campus path with pepper spray. That has galvanized students, says organizer Kyle Arnon, a sociology doctoral student from Buffalo, N.Y.

Find out what's happening in Westwood-Century Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Students are going to demand that the regents change the agenda to reflect their concerns and we are not going to be appeased if the only change is a longer public comment period,'' he told City News Service today.

The regents will be meeting via teleconference from UC campuses in Los Angeles, Merced, San Francisco and Davis. Protests are planned at all four by students from the 10 UC campuses, 23 California State University schools, and maybe some community college students.

In the days since the pepper spray incident at Davis, police at the 10 UC campuses have been coordinating and reviewing policies on appropriate use of force, and other strategies to deal with student protests. Prior to this fall, police at some campuses reacted radically differently to others.

"I think they are going to be much more cautious in dealing with students as a result of the Davis public relations disaster,'' Arnon said.

The regents meeting at UCLA starts at 8 a.m. Monday at the James West Alumni Center, at the north end of Westwood Boulevard.

Occupy LA

A spokesperson for Occupy L.A. today urged activists to gather at City Hall by 11 p.m. Sunday "to send a strong message to the ruling elite and politicians who desperately want the Occupy movement to end.''

On Friday, Villaraigosa praised the Occupy movement for changing the agenda of political and economic-policy debate in the nation. But the mayor also said it was time for the campsite on the once-verdant City Hall grounds to be dismantled, starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

"Occupy LA has brought needed attention to the growing disparities in our country and I look forward to its ongoing efforts to build an economy that works for everyone,'' Villaraigosa said. "As we continue to respect the exercise of everyone's First Amendment rights in our Civic Center and throughout Los Angeles, City Hall Park is temporarily closing out of concern for the public safety implications of a long- term encampment.''

Occupy L.A. organizers reject claims that the city has supported them.

"They do not and never have,'' said a manifesto sent to news outlets today. "The pending eviction attempt is part of a wave of nationally-coordinated state repression against the Occupy movement as a whole.''

-- By Hans Laetz, City News Service


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Westwood-Century City