Protest organizers meeting with USC President as UC Irvine joins list of campus protests

Pro-Palestine protests at SoCal colleges

Pro-Palestine demonstrations continue at UCLA, as USC President Carol Folt has reportedly agreed to meet with protesters on that campus, and UC Irvine has begun a protest of its own.

LOS ANGELES - Protest organizers at the University of Southern California announced Monday that they were scheduled to meet with University President Carol Folt, after pro-Palestine demonstrators have been camped out on the campus since before the weekend.

While protesters have dug in on USC's campus for days, another demonstration began at 10 a.m. at an entrance to the campus at the intersection of Hoover Street and Jefferson Boulevard.

The activists called on Folt to start "emergency campus student dialogue" in the wake of recent demonstrations in support of Palestinian and Israeli efforts in the Middle East during the Israel-Hamas war.

Activist calls on USC to begin student dialogue

Fights broke out Sunday at UCLA between the dueling groups after a barrier was breached meant to separate the two sides.

By Monday afternoon, USC SCALE announced on Instagram that organizers would be meeting with Folt at 3:30 p.m.

"We will not be making any concessions, and refuse any normalization in our negotiations," the post read. "Our occupation will continue until our demands are met."

USC's protests are just some of several on college campuses across the U.S. that have sparked over the last few weeks. Over the weekend a similar protest on the campus of UCLA saw pro-Palestine and pro-Israel supporters clash several times, with some people being pepper sprayed.

Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications, issued a statement in part saying, "UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we are heartbroken to report that today, some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators on Royce Quad."

The college said extra security team members would be on campus amid the escalating tensions.

"As an institution of higher education, we stand firmly for the idea that even when we disagree, we must still engage respectfully and recognize one another's humanity. We are dismayed that certain individuals instead chose to jeopardize the physical safety of the community," the statement continued.

Monday afternoon, approximately 100 demonstrators set up more than a dozen tents on the campus of UC - Irvine. While multiple law enforcement agencies were on standby there, Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan issued a statement "asking our law enforcement to stand down. I will not tolerate any violations to our students' rights to peacefully assemble and protest."

City News Service contributed to this report.