Students at several Bay Area universities kicked off the fall semester with coordinated pro-Palestinian rallies on Thursday. The rallies were held in impassioned tones, but they sought to adhere to zero-tolerance restrictions that the University of California and California State University systems have vowed to strictly enforce this academic year and to thwart the disruption that disrupted campuses last spring.

At the University of California, Berkeley, about 200 students gathered at Sproul Plaza, a central gathering spot that became a sprawling encampment with more than 180 tents at its peak last spring. The protesters did not ignore UC-wide rules banning encampments and blocking access roads, but they made clear that they intended to continue to bring to the forefront their opposition to the Gaza war and their concern for the plight of Palestinians into the new semester.

For 90 minutes, protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans condemning Israeli apartheid. Speakers spoke out against the violence in Gaza and accused President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of genocide for not cutting off aid to Israel.

Outside of the core protest group, most students walking through Sproul Square only stopped for a moment to take in the spectacle before rushing off to class.

Across the Bay Bridge, about 100 San Francisco State University students rallied at Malcolm X Plaza, across from the courtyard where they camped out for two weeks last spring. They were joined by pro-Palestinian students from UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz and several other Bay Area universities.

“We need to come back stronger than last year,” said a student speaker who gave her name only as Zainab, speaking from an improvised stage in front of a banner emblazoned with the colors of the Palestinian flag — black, red, white and green — that read, “No Future Without Palestine.”

“We will march and people will try to silence us and try to silence us,” she said. “This will be the first of many demonstrations that will take place this year.”

The renewed protests show that many students remain determined to take a stand against the Gaza war, despite the last year's fragmentation of campuses, lawsuits and, in some cases, threats of disciplinary action due to tougher policies banning behavior that sparks violence.

Earlier this month, University of California President Michael V. Drake instructed presidents of all 10 campuses to strictly enforce rules banning students from camping, buildings and hallways, and requiring them to wear masks to hide their identities if they are misbehaving.

The University of California, Berkeley's new president, Rich Lyons, has said he respects free speech but will also ensure those rules are followed.

“There are hundreds of places on Berkeley's campus where students can assert their free speech,” he told The Times last week. “We are a free speech university. But intentionally breaking the rules is a world of civil disobedience and we will consider the consequences.”

California State University President Mildred A. Garcia and 23 campus leaders also issued a university-wide statement about the protests. The university said the campus “must maintain an environment in which business can be conducted uninterrupted.”

Prohibited Activities Illegal activities include “camping, nighttime demonstrations, or nighttime loitering” and “unauthorized temporary or permanent structures, walls, barriers, barricades, furniture, or other objects.” Illegal activities include “vandalism, damage to property, trespass, occupation of buildings or premises, refusal to disperse in violation of the law,” and incitement of violence.

Protests at the University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State University remained local on Thursday, but some protesters said they were willing to continue demonstrating against what they called an international humanitarian crisis, even at the risk of disciplinary action.

Yousuf Abu-Bakr, a mechanical engineering graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, said he was inspired to join the movement after seeing heartbreaking images on social media showing the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

“We are not going to be told what to do by the UC president or the board of trustees,” said Abu Bakr, a Muslim born in Sudan. “We will not be satisfied until we see the liberation of Palestine. Many of us are confident in our ability to educate and create change.”

Still, he said the encampments are merely a “negotiating tool” and organizers will likely move on to other tactics as they assess what is effective and safe.

Last year's demonstrations were the largest student protests since the Vietnam War, with pro-Palestinian protesters setting up tent cities on several California campuses, in some cases occupying buildings and painting graffiti, to protest Israel's ongoing military attacks on Gaza.

The war began on October 7 when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 Israelis and foreigners hostage. Israeli retaliatory attacks left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

In April, UC leadership rejected a key demand that had driven student protests: that the university divest from companies that do business with Israel.

At the University of California, Berkeley, protesters removed their tents outside Sproul Plaza at the end of the spring semester after reaching an agreement with then-President Carol Christ. Under the agreement, Berkeley rejected demands to directly target Israel through divestment or an academic boycott, but committed to reviewing complaints about discrimination against Palestinians and other groups in academic partnerships such as exchange programs.

CSU leaders also say they do not intend to target Israel for divestment.

But when San Francisco State University President Lynn Mahoney reached an agreement with protesters in May to remove the encampment, she said she would host meetings to discuss divestments by the San Francisco State University Foundation, the university's fundraising arm.

The foundation announced last week that it had developed a “regional neutrality plan” that would “stop investing in companies whose profits come from weapons manufacturing” and that would not specifically target Israel.

San Francisco State “serves as a shining example of how student activism can bring about positive change at an institution,” Jeff Jakanitz, president of the foundation, said in a campus-wide letter. Jakanitz declined to comment Thursday on which companies would be affected by the policy change.

James Aziz, a student who attended the meeting, said the list included four companies: Lockheed Martin, Italian defense company Leonardo, Palantir Technologies and Caterpillar.

“I don't know how much money these companies had,” Aziz said, “but it's not about the amount, it's about setting a precedent and encouraging other institutions to follow suit.”