Jug of Justice / Bonk the Police

About

Jug of Justice and Bonk the Police are pro-Palestine symbols and catchphrases started by a viral video of a student protester at California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt) hitting a police officer in the head with a large, empty water jug while the crowd of students was trying to keep the cops from entering a doorway. The original video was a Facebook livestream shared by a local Humboldt County journalism outlet Redheaded Blackbelt. It was quickly reposted and went viral on Twitter / X, TikTok and Instagram, among other platforms, in late April 2024. In turn, the water jug and the idea of "bonking" police (akin to the Bonk Cheems meme) became pro-Palestine and ACAB symbols for the pro-Palestinian student-led protests and encampments held at American universities in April 2024, aimed at the Israel-Hamas Conflict and America's support of the Israeli government. The water jug notably became an exploitable added to recognizable anti-police imagery.

Origin

On April 22nd, 2024, pro-Palestine student protestors at California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt) occupied the school's Siemens Hall with demands related to divestment and disclosure, echoing those from Columbus University.^[1] The protest was livestreamed by the Facebook^[1] account Redheaded Blackbelt.

During the roughly hour-and-a-half-long livestream, police in riot gear tried to enter Siemens Hall where they were met by protestors blocking them. One student was holding a water jug that they were originally using like a drum. When police pushed on the crowd, the student with the jug started hitting one of the cops in the head. The moment occurred at the video's 48:30-minute mark (shown below). Over six days, the Facebook^[1] video received over 240 reactions.

On the next day, April 23rd, the YouTube channel of Redheaded Blackbelt called Humboldt Freelance Reporting posted a shorter YouTube^[2] video of the event, receiving over 12,300 views in five days (shown below, left).

Also on April 23rd, 2024, the channel posted another YouTube^[3] video that interviewed a Cal Poly student who was part of the protest, receiving over 3,200 views in five days (shown below, right).

Spread

On April 22nd, 2024, X^[4] user @poetryc0mmunity reposted the clip of the water jug strikes, captioning it, "lmao Cal Poly Humboldt students don't PLAY!" gaining over 6 million views and 23,000 likes in six days (shown below). On April 23rd, the video was then reposted by X^[5] user @Newyorkist, gaining over 8.4 million views and 33,000 likes in four days.

lmao Cal Poly Humboldt students don't PLAY! pic.twitter.com/2Ib5wqRSXT

— Joni (@poetryc0mmunity) April 23, 2024

Inspired by both viral reposts, internet users and meme creators started to use the water jug symbol and the word "bonk" in pro-Palestine memes. For instance, on April 23rd, X^[6] user @krime_1 tweeted art of a police officer being hit with a water jug, gaining over 15,000 likes in four days (shown below, left).

Also on April 23rd, 2024, X^[7] user @SomeSeananigans tweeted an image reading, "Bonk Bonk Bonk ACAB," receiving over 17,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).

On April 23rd, X^[8] user @GoodVibePolitik shared a re-edited version of the original video in which a goofy cartoon sound effect (commonly used in bonk-related memes) was added, captioned, "I couldn’t help myself." The video earned over 18,000 likes in four days (shown below).

I couldn’t help myself https://t.co/yn2oxdklT1 pic.twitter.com/ng3jOFgX2n

— James Ray 🔻 (@GoodVibePolitik) April 23, 2024

On April 27th, 2024, TikToker^[9] @oluwahotchip posted a video that referenced the phrases, "Jug of Justice" and "Bonk the Police," noting that the water jag had become a symbol of resistance against police brutality, receiving over 251,300 plays and 21,500 likes in two days (shown below).

Anti-Sprinkler Method

On April 26th, 2024, X^[10] user @RLJnews shared a video from Arizona State University (ASU) of pro-Palestine protestors being sprayed with sprinklers, seemingly deliberately. X^[11] user @RLJnews shared another video in the thread, showing that the student protestors had put a water jug over the sprinklers to prevent the spray, receiving over 22,000 likes in three days (shown below).

One of the ways protesters have stopped sprinklers from spraying themselves

They’re now chanting “water is life” pic.twitter.com/raDXkkJeiv

— Rachel Louise Just (@RLJnews) April 26, 2024

Others noted the use of the water jug, linking it to the Cal Poly video. For instance, on April 26th, X^[12] user @reclaimuc tweeted a photo of a water jug, writing, "A new revolutionary icon," gaining over 59,000 likes in three days (shown below).

The Bonk Song

On April 27th, 2024, artist No$hu released a song on Bandcamp^[13] called "The Bonk Song." Two days prior, on April 25th, No$hu tweeted^[14] a snippet of the song with a short music video that used the original clip, receiving over 12,000 likes in four days (shown below).

It looks like I was able to find the original audio to the waterjug video. My respects to comrade juggernaut pic.twitter.com/37I6yNU4Yc

— No$hu (@Noshu4me) April 25, 2024

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References