The CSFR Calls to Free Rick Toledo, Protesting for Palestine Is Not a Crime!

At 1am on March 6, Cal Poly Tech Humboldt university police arrested Rick Toledo from Students for a Democratic Society in the middle of the night for a sit-in and one-day building occupation for Palestine done on Feb 27, 2026. He, along with two other students, have been suspended by the university, with a conduct hearing set to occur soon, and he has been fired from his university teaching position. Aside from protesting for divestment from Israel, students were also sitting in to demand a sanctuary campus from ICE. The DA's office claims they will hold him until Tuesday. We in the CSFR says: Free Rick Toledo! Don't charge him, and release him now!

We in the Committee to Stop FBI Repression call on all supporters of free speech and the right to assembly to call the Humboldt County District Attorney Stacy Eads' office and to demand that Rick Toledo is released at once. He did nothing wrong in attending a student sit-in, and committed no crime. The student sit-in occurred because the university administration did not want to concede to their demands for divestment and for sanctuary.

The crime here is the university's blatant violation of the First Amendment and its crackdown on freedom of expression. Regardless of what you think about Palestine or ICE, the public should agree that students should have a right to say something about political issues and about their own university's participation or complicity.

We will keep calling in to demand that Rick Toledo be released immediately and that no charges be filed as a result of the student protest on Feb 27, 2026. We will not stop fighting to defend our right to free speech, to defend our activists from repression, and to free our fellow activists from jail. We will not wait for Tuesday either. If you support the students who protest for Palestine at Cal Poly Tech Humboldt, please call!

When: Now
Who: Stacy Eads, Humboldt DA, at 707-445-7411
What: Script Below -->

"Hello, my name is NAME and I'm calling to demand that Rick Toledo be released from jail immediately. We think protesting is our First Amendment right, including protesting any campus appearance of ICE and any university money for apartheid Israel, and he did nothing wrong at any student protest. We demand that no charges be filed and he be released immediately!"