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Cal Poly Humboldt police are investigating allegations that a woman was assaulted twice Saturday near the Arcata Plaza after expressing her support of Palestine.

University spokesperson Aileen Yoo said she could confirm the incident that occurred in the parking lot of the campus bookstore off the plaza was under investigation by UPD but declined to comment further. Arcata police declined to comment, saying UPD was leading the investigation, while inquiries to UPD were forwarded to the university’s news and information department.

According to a press release sent on her behalf, Gigi Hyden says she had attended a weekly rally on the Arcata Plaza in support of Palestine and was leaving around 2 p.m. when some men she identified as College of the Redwoods baseball team members were leaving the Arcata Ballpark and engaged her in conversation after noticing she was carrying pro-Palestine signs. While one of the men expressed “genuine interest” in Hyden’s signs, according to the press release, another said things about the need to “blow up Hamas” and “who care about babies if we can kill Hamas.”

According to the press release, the man who’d said these things about Hamas then hit Hyden with his car as he was pulling out of a parking lot and she was walking on the sidewalk “with such force that she ended up on top of the hood of the car and her sign went flying nearly 20 feet to the other side of the street.”

Hyden says a College of the Redwoods assistant baseball coach, who’d previously been on scene but had left, returned, parking his car in the middle of the road, jumping out and approaching Hyden, according to the release. According to the press release, Hyden and her friend attempted to leave the scene but were surrounded by the men and the assistant coach, who Hyden alleges called her a “stupid fucking cunt” and threatened her, saying, “I don’t give a fuck if you’re a woman. I have no problem putting hands on you.”

“Then, while she was surrounded on the Arcata city sidewalk and trying to get away, [the assistant coach] stood in her way and pressed his elbow and forearm into her throat, pinning her in a choke for about 10 seconds before she wriggled away from the crowd,” the press release states.

After getting home, Hyden called Arcata police to report the incident, according to the press release, which adds UPD later contacted her and informed her it would be leading the investigation.

Attempts to contact the assistant coach were not immediately successful.

College of the Redwoods spokesperson Molly Blakemore said the college is aware of an “incident” in downtown Arcata on Saturday “involving CR’s athletic teams/coaches and protesters.”

“The nature of this incident was very concerning to all involved,” Blakemore wrote in an email to the Journal. “There is an ongoing criminal investigation which the Cal Poly Humboldt Police Department is handling with some assistance from the College of the Redwoods Police Department. Based on the ongoing nature of the investigation, CR cannot release any further information at this time.”

For weeks now, people have been gathering at noon on Saturday at the Arcata Plaza for a “vigil and rally in solidarity with Palestine,” wishing to show support for Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas that started Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into Israel and killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Since then, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed at least 8,000 people in Gaza, including many children, according to the Palestinian Health Authority, as the United Nations and others warn of a humanitarian crisis there.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to Gigi Hyden as a Cal Poly Humboldt student and to include a more accurate estimate of deaths in Gaza.. The Journal regrets the error.