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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) — Ten days after first taking over Quarry Plaza at the center of the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, students in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment say they are bracing themselves for the prospect of police violence. They say that negotiations between student intermediaries from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and the UCSC administration failed Friday morning.
“We established the UCSC-Gaza Solidarity Encampment as a necessary student escalation in the ongoing fight for Palestinian liberation from settler colonialism, occupation, and apartheid,” Students for Justice in Palestine said in a released statement, who claim that the administration refused to meaningfully concede to their demands.
Student intermediaries say they entered into negotiations with UCSC administration with the intention of a long-term plan of full divestment from the UCSC managed and UC-wide investments in war-economy, as well as the disclosure of investment and cutting ties with certain institutions.
The group says that the process was “cratered because Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, alongside the UC Office of the President and the UC Regents, intervened in the negotiations, creating artificial limits to negotiations.”
Demonstrators say they will remain at the encampment but expect a sweep by law enforcement.
“We expect the police to act violently, as they have in response to students across our country and our system,” stated SJP.
Organizers say they’re basing that imminent police raid on the fact negotiations ended. There has not yet been any further information to back up the claim.
ABC7 News has reached out to the university to see what will happen next and is waiting to hear back.
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