Organizers from different campus groups at the rally said the “emergency mobilization” event was planned specifically for May Day, a day honoring labor struggles and advancement also known as International Workers’ Day. On Instagram, they called the rally “May Day for Palestine,” and said that May Day emphasizes “the connection between the working class and Palestine.”
Students for Justice in Palestine rally at Cal State LA, a student-led pro-Palestine group in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students gather, waving flags, by a statue of Billie Jean King during a “May Day for Palestine” rally held at Cal State LA on Wednesday, May 1. (Photo by Victoria Ivie, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine enclose their encampment at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs, demands and build tents at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
Students for Justice in Palestine rally with speeches, signs and demands at Cal State LA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)
A student-led “Gaza Solidarity Encapment” grows on the lawn during a “May Day for Palestine” rally held at Cal State LA on Wednesday, May 1. (Photo by Victoria Ivie, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“Palestinian workers have issued a call to their fellow international worker community to halting the production of weapons worldwide and to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine,” the organizers wrote. “Fighting for the end of the exploration of workers is critically important, especially because many workers are producing labor for companies that are perpetuating genocides and the killing and surveillance of oppressed and marginalized populations.”
In their demands, Students for Justice in Palestine at Cal State LA called for officials to “divest from the military industrial complex and the “genocidal Zionist regime, Israel,” in hopes of building “a People’s University.”
Just after 2 p.m., around 300 students marched from the campus bookstore to the nearby Billie Jean King statue, which had a Palestine flag zip-tied onto it. A small encampment with 15 tents was being set up on the grass outside of the school’s physical education building. An orange plastic barrier, bolstered by chairs, surrounded participants.
Amal Najjar, a Muslim student in her last semester at Cal State LA, participated in Wednesday’s rally. Najjar, a women’s gender and sexuality studies major, called activism a “social responsibility.”
“There’s not a single college left in Gaza so I’m doing this for all the people that were on their way to getting an education or never will get the chance to do so,” Najjar, 35, said. “Organizing is the least that we can do to honor people that have lost their lives,” she said. “It’s beautiful to see so many people representing anti-genocide, anti-settler colonization, everything.”
There were no signs of police or counter-protestors, and Cal State L.A. officials have not responded to requests for comment as of 4:30 p.m.
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