Hundreds of students gathered at USC and UCLA Thursday, to call for solidarity with immigrant students and to voice their concerns following Tuesday’s presidential election.
At UCLA, several people held a sign that said: “UCLA stands in solidarity with undocumented students,” as they walked through campus, according to the Twitter feed of the university’s newspaper, the Daily Bruin. The publication reported that 1,000 students were walking in what was being called the “Love Trumps Hate” march.
• PHOTOS: Protesters against President-elect Donald Trump march through LA streets
At USC, the university’s Daily Trojan newspaper reported that “Students from @USC have formed a human wall along Trousdale and are chanting “the people united will never be divided.”
Another report said that several hundred people were on campus chanting “not my president” and “Let me vote” in front of the Student Union.
The protests were among many across Southern California and the nation in the wake of Tuesday’s election, when voters picked Republican nominee Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.
At UCLA on Tuesday there were also protests in the wake of the vote.
And police arrested 28 anti-Trump protestors at a rally Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles that spilled onto the 101 Freeway, closing the roadway and drawing a contingent of LAPD officers in riot gear.
Students at San Gabriel High School also took part in a walkout.
• RELATED STORY: LA mayor to protestors: ‘Make feelings known’ but ‘put safety first’
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said many immigrants in L.A. were anxious in the wake of a contentious campaign in which uncertainty emerged about their futures under a Trump administration.
As religious and civic leaders stood behind him at a news conference Thursday, Garcetti said thousands of Angelenos came together publicly to “make their feelings known.”
He added that Americans’ right to free expression is one of “our greatest privileges” but he cautioned protesters to put safety first.
“I understand that the results of Tuesday’s election are painful for many of us, and this kind of engagement can be a meaningful part of the healing we need after such a long and divisive campaign,” Garcetti said.
“Protests can, should, and must proceed in that spirit — and I urge everyone to look out for their fellow Angelenos and put safety first.”
