At approximately 6 a.m. this morning, UC Berkeley Facilities Services employees tore down a sukkah that had been set up at Sather Gate on Thursday, citing violations of the campus's time, place and conduct rules.

The sukkah, launched by the campus organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), included a banner that read, “Sukkot means…respect for the land, respect for the people, liberation of Palestine.” The JVP called the sukkah a “Sukkah of Gaza Solidarity” and said on Instagram that she wanted to raise awareness about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot as it relates to “environmental destruction by the Israeli government.”

Several police officers, campus facilities staff and members of campus administration, including Vice Chancellor Marc Fisher and Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Sunny Lee, were present at the sukkah this morning and urged JVP members to dismantle it in accordance with campus regulations. “Time, place and manner” guidelines, according to JVP member Valerian Weinzweig.

When JVP members did not dismantle the structure, campus employees did, destroying the structure and confiscating the materials from the JVP.

The sukkah was erected around 11 a.m. Thursday morning for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Weinzweig said. Sukkot celebrates the land and harvest and revolves around the structure of the sukkah, huts where practitioners are encouraged to spend time, eat meals and sleep.

Approximately 45 minutes after the sukkah was erected, members of campus administration requested that it be moved. JVP members demanded more specific justification, at which point Fisher arrived and said the sukkah was blocking the way for vehicles passing through, according to Weinzweig.

Parts of the sukkah were blown away due to the strong winds, and campus facilities began throwing them into a dumpster before JVP members retrieved the elements and rebuilt the sukkah on one side of the gate. Weinzweig said the sukkah remained there until this morning.

Weinzweig noted that religious discussions took place throughout the night and people were constantly present to monitor the sukkah.

Weinzweig claimed that until this morning, campus officials, including Fisher, had not pointed out the specific guidelines that the construction of the sukkah violated.

The campus time, place and conduct policies prohibit the erection of structures and the attachment of objects to campus structures and the blocking of streets and sidewalks.

These guidelines have been violated before, including during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Wednesday and throughout the months of demonstrations Blockade of the Sather Gate last semester. However, UC President Michael Drake express instructions given Aug. 19 for UC campuses to standardize and enforce bans on “unauthorized structures.”

At midday on Wednesday, a pro-Palestinian demonstration blocked the Sather Gate with fold-out tables, banners and tents. Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said in an email that this demonstration also violated time, place and conduct rules by blocking the roadway for emergency vehicles and posting signs and other items at the gate.

Organizers were informed of these violations by the campus and no further action was taken because the demonstrations ended within an hour, Mogulof said.

Regarding the sukkah, Mogulof said in the email that JVP members “disregarded the clearly conveyed message that they were violating the rule and that the violation must cease.”

He noted that the campus will continue to enforce these policies in accordance with Drake's guidance.

JVP plans to hold more events at the gate, including a Shabbat service tonight. Weinzweig noted that group members were unsure whether they would reconstruct the sukkah because they no longer had the materials to do so.

“We will have our Shabbat service, we will have some programs at the gate that we had originally planned, but we are not quite sure what we will do on Sukkot without a sukkah,” Weinzweig said.