Some USC students commemorated the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel with a walkout, protesting the deaths of more than 40,000 Palestinians since the Israel-Hamas war began.
The walkout began at 11:30 a.m. with nearly a hundred people gathered at the Trousdale entrance to campus. For nearly two hours, students marched around the perimeter of campus, some holding signs, some wearing keffiyehs in honor of Palestinian lives lost.
Last October 7 is when some 1,200 Israelis were killed, and about 250 kidnapped, during a surprise attack on Israeli soil by Hamas militants. Dozens of people are still being held by Hamas as hostages.
Soon after the attack, the Israeli military began airstrikes in Gaza, which continue to kill and displace Palestinian residents.
The USC walkout was organized by Student Justice for Palestine; the group has a policy of not naming its spokespeople.
“It’s the moral apathy of this country that we are struggling against,” said one SJP spokesperson at the protest. “We’re fighting against apartheid, we’re fighting against colonialism. We’re fighting against so many different struggles at once, and most of all, we’re fighting for Palestinian life and liberation.”
Protest organizers also said they want for USC to divest from financial interests that may benefit the Israeli military.
The ongoing conflict has divided the USC community since last year, when student protesters set up encampments and dozens were arrested. Some students have since reported feeling unsafe co-existing with other people’s beliefs and opinions.
Jackson Tavel, a junior studying aerospace engineering, watched Monday’s walkout take place. He said last year’s protests affected his studies and access to campus.
“All this kind of went down in the middle of finals, and so I had to figure out a place to study,” Tavel said. “I think that if we had handled things differently...there would have been a better solution.”
Cesar Ticreno, a sophomore studying philosophy, politics and law, said he supported the students’ right to protest.
“I think it’s a really good thing that students and maybe even faculty are able to do this, especially at an institution like this,” Ticreno said.
October 7 memorial observances are being held around Los Angeles.
Antonia Brooks contributed to this story.