California Academic Workers Strike in Support of Pro-Palestinian Protests

Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
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California Academic Workers Strike in Support of Pro-Palestinian Protests

Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)
Students protesting at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the California University campus (EPA)

Discord from last month's mob attack on pro-Palestinian student activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, flared again on Tuesday as academic workers staged a strike on campus protesting UCLA's response to the violence, Reuters said.
Unionized academic researchers, graduate teaching assistants and post-doctoral scholars at UCLA walked off the job over what they regard as unfair labor practices in the university's handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent weeks, organizers said.
They were joined by fellow academic workers at two other University of California campuses - UC Davis near Sacramento, and UC Santa Cruz, where the protest strike began on May 20.
The strikers are demanding amnesty for grad students and other academic workers who were arrested or face discipline for their involvement in the protests, which union leaders say were peaceful except when counter-demonstrators and other instigators were allowed to provoke unrest.
The state Public Employee Relations Board ordered the University of California and the strikers to take part in mediated talks. A representative for the strikers said the parties met once over the weekend.
The strike was organized by the United Auto Workers union Local 4811, which represents some 48,000 non-tenured academic employees total across 10 University of California campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The UAW local includes about 6,400 academic workers at UCLA, 5,700 at Davis and about 2,000 at Santa Cruz. A union representative said thousands were withholding their work as of Monday. Several hundred attended a march and midday rally on the UCLA campus on Tuesday.
The expanding work stoppage marks the first union-backed protest in solidarity with the recent wave of student-led demonstrations on dozens of US campuses against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Union leaders said a major impetus for the strike was the arrest of 210 people, including campus-employed grad students, at the scene of a Palestinian solidarity protest camp torn down by police at UCLA on May 2.
About 24 hours earlier, on the night of April 30-May 1, masked assailants armed with sticks and clubs attacked the encampment and its occupants, sparking a bloody clash that went on for at least three hours before police moved in.
The university has since reassigned the chief of the campus police department and opened an investigation into law enforcement's reaction to the violence.
Last week, three weeks after the melee, campus police announced their first, and so far only, arrest of someone accused of taking part in the attack - a man they say was seen in video footage beating victims with a wooden pole.
Separately on Tuesday in Detroit, Wayne State University suspended in-person classes and directed staff to work remotely to avoid any disruptions that might be posed by a pro-Palestinian encampment there.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat of Palestinian descent, joined those protests on Monday and Tuesday.



Tens of Thousands Protest in The Hague Against Gaza War

Thousands of people, some waving the Palestinian flag, gather against the Dutch government's Israel policy, as they protest on Malieveld, in The Hague on May 18, 2025. (AFP)
Thousands of people, some waving the Palestinian flag, gather against the Dutch government's Israel policy, as they protest on Malieveld, in The Hague on May 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Protest in The Hague Against Gaza War

Thousands of people, some waving the Palestinian flag, gather against the Dutch government's Israel policy, as they protest on Malieveld, in The Hague on May 18, 2025. (AFP)
Thousands of people, some waving the Palestinian flag, gather against the Dutch government's Israel policy, as they protest on Malieveld, in The Hague on May 18, 2025. (AFP)

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through The Hague on Sunday demanding a tougher stance from the Dutch government against Israel's war in Gaza.

Organizer Oxfam Novib said around 100,000 protesters had joined the march, most dressed in red expressing their desire for a "red line" against Israel's siege on Gaza, where it has cut off medical, food and fuel supplies.

The march also passed the seat of the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide and last year ordered Israel to halt a military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Israel dismisses accusations of genocide as baseless and has argued in court that its operations in Gaza are self defense and targeted at Hamas fighters who attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Oxfam Novib said the Dutch government had ignored what it said were war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, and urged protesters to demand a tougher line.

Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Caspar Veldkamp earlier this month said he wanted the EU to reconsider cooperation agreements it has with Israel.

But the Dutch government has so far refrained from harsher criticism, and the leader of the largest party in the government coalition, anti-Muslim populist Geert Wilders, has repeatedly voiced unwavering support for Israel.

Wilders called Sunday's protesters "confused" and accused them in a post on X of supporting Hamas.