Communique from UCDecolonized/Occupied

 

Yesterday, after 90+ students and allies spent the night occupying Mrak Hall on the UC Davis campus following Tuesday’s huge walk-out/rally/march in solidarity with Occupy Cal and the system-wide higher education strike to protest police brutality on campus, the UCD administration called in 30 riot cops—in the middle of the afternoon– to clear the occupation, and close the building in fear of further protest. This use of unnecessary force against UC student protesters, who were well within their right to be inside of a university building, during working hours, is additional proof of the militarization of university campuses and the violent crackdown on students’ first amendment rights that increases daily.

 

In solidarity with brutalized UC Berkeley faculty and students, in solidarity with the courage of their civil disobedience, and in solidarity with the encampment they have now erected on Sproul Hall, we will erect tents and occupy UC Davis, beginning tomorrow  at noon, on the MU quad. We invite all students, faculty, staff and community members to join in this encampment, in clear view of the university and its daily business of banking, policing, and managing. We will not be swept up or threatened with arrest and brutality because we practice our constitutional right to protest, and we will not be intimidated by brute force and amped up displays of power ordered by the administration of this or any other campus.

 

In solidarity,

University of California Decolonized