March 21 (UPI) — A group including students and faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles sued the school, alleging the institution violated their civil rights during protests on campus last spring.
The lawsuit filed earlier this week by a group of 35 people made up of students, faculty, legal observers and community members names the school and three police agencies as defendants.
The suit also names individual people who allegedly attacked protesters during the demonstrations and pro-Palestinian encampments on the UCLA campus in late April of last year.
It contends the school “repeatedly and systemically” violated dozens of peoples’ civil rights during the demonstrations that saw counter-protesters clash with protesters.
The Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol are two of the police agencies named as defendants in the lawsuit, which contends both offices did nothing to protect pro-Palestinian demonstrators and their encampments.
“It was immediately apparent that there was not a semblance of protection for the physical safety of the encampment members, and the mob had successfully transformed a peaceful, interfaith community space into a site of horror,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit alleges police only moved in to break up the engagement after doing nothing for hours, eventually causing injuries to dozens of other protesters as they shot “powerful kinetic impact projectiles at peoples’ heads and faces” while arresting around 200 people.
UCLA Police Department Chief John Thomas was initially reassigned for his response to the violence and ultimately resigned in May.
A UCLA spokesperson told NBC News the school is aware of the complaint and is “gathering additional information.”
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages for injuries suffered during the clash that saw protesters attacked with metal poles and fireworks among other weapons.
“Over 200 protesters and organizers for Palestinian rights were wrongfully arrested that night and dozens of injured went to the hospital,” the group behind the lawsuit said in a media release obtained by The Hill.
“UCLA failed to stop or even condemn the violence, emboldening the perpetrators. UCLA’s message laid blame in large part on protesters, who were in fact victims, and highlighted what it labeled antisemitism against other Jewish students on campus when it was the Palestine activists — including Jews — being harmed.”
