UCLA pep rally bonfire canceled due to protests

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A bonfire scheduled to be lit at a UCLA pep rally Thursday night ahead of the annual USC-UCLA football game was canceled due to student protests.

Students were marching at the scene to protest rising tuition that was approved Thursday.

An editor at the UCLA Daily Bruin said the protesters were graduate students, and that the crowd booed when a fire marshal deemed the fire unsafe to light, according to Sam Hoff.

There were approximately 70 protesters gathered, according to City News Service.

As the pep rally began with musical acts around 6:30 p.m., university police and administrators tried unsuccessfully to get the protesters to leave.

The group refused to budge. At one point they walked in a circle around the wood pile that had been placed on Wilson Plaza. There were no immediate reports of any arrests.

"We can't light the bonfire tonight due to circumstances beyond our control," UCLA head football coach Jim Mora told the crowd.

City News Service contributed to this report.