Just after UC Berkeley had successfully cleared the large tent encampment that was protesting the university's military- and Israel-related investments, another renegade group has occupied the school's empty Anna Head Hall, though their anti-semitic graffiti may not be helping their cause.

That UC Berkeley “Gaza solidarity” tent encampment that had grown to nearly 200 tents was just finally cleared on Tuesday afternoon, with the school making some fairly minor concessions to the demonstrators. Yet just one day after the protesters packed up their tents, a rogue, offshoot protest group occupied an empty building on the Berkeley campus Wednesday, as KTVU reports.


That building is called Anna Head Hall, which has been closed off for safety reasons since a 2022 fire, and is still boarded up and in some degree of disrepair. It is now surrounded by tents, couches, and a few Palestinian flags, with at least a couple dozen protesters inside.


According to the Daily Cal, about 30 protesters took to the building at around 3:15 pm Wednesday afternoon, and set up tents outside the building shortly thereafter.


But their anti-semitic graffiti might not help win sympathy for their cause, as images circulating on social media show a ‘Star of David equals swastika’ graffiti imagery, and the message “Zionism is Nazism.” The university says they don’t know who these protesters are, and they may not be affiliated with the previous tent encampment.

The school now considers the building to be an “active crime scene” per KTVU. The Chronicle notes that as of Thursday morning, there have been no arrests.

“We are occupying the hall because saying ‘free Palestine’ is not enough,” one unnamed protester told the Daily Cal. “You have to put action behind your words.”


In a statement KTVU, UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said, "Today is the 55th anniversary of People's Park and action was first announced on platforms controlled by People's Park activists. They are vandalizing an unsafe boarded-up, fire-damaged building next to People's Park."


Meanwhile, many of the protesters who were involved with the encampment are heading to UC Merced for the school’s Board of Regents meeting. They’re calling for the UC system to divest from companies that have provided support to Israel during the war, which the school has indicated it will not do.

Related: UC Berkeley Gaza Solidarity Encampment Grows to 175 Tents; Violence Breaks Out at UCLA Protest [SFist]

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