Update: 2/05/2024 16:50
Issued by: 05/02/2024, 16:16
Los Angeles – Part of the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) became the scene of a multi-hour confrontation between protesters and the police, who came to disperse the local pro-Palestinian camp and arrested several people. It was the latest of dozens of police crackdowns on student protests in the US linked to the war in the Gaza Strip. UCLA management banned the camp after it was attacked by pro-Israel protesters on Wednesday night.
Police breached the barriers at the camp around 03:00 local time (12:00 CEST), the student newspaper Daily Bruin reported, reporting on developments at the site informed practically minute by minute. According to this and other sources, explosions of stun grenades echoed through the campus, mixing with the sound of pyrotechnics set off by protesters. Some of them told the media that police fired rubber bullets at them.
Police officers gradually dismantled barricades made of wooden boards, pallets, parts of metal fences and garbage cans, while smoke rose above the scene of the intervention and police helicopters circled in the sky. According to the news company BBC before 05:00, the police arrived at the area with the tents, which they then began to clear away. By morning, the protest was almost dispersed, however diary The New York Times left about a hundred protesters chanting, “We’ll be back.”
Los Angeles police did not comment on the operation overnight, and it was unclear how many people ended up in custody. Local television ABC7 reported that two buses with detainees were leaving the scene, and police also detained at least one teacher, according to the Daily Bruin. The media did not report any injuries or major violence during the night.
Universities across the United States are grappling with protest tent cities in support of the Palestinians. The movement was sparked by an incident on April 18, when the administration of Columbia University in New York arrested a hundred students who were camping in the middle of its campus. In the past hours, the police also intervened at Yale University in Connecticut or at schools in Wisconsin and Texas.
A protest camp in Los Angeles was surrounded by hundreds of police already early Wednesday evening, and the police called on the protesters several times to leave. However, hundreds of people remained at the site at night, either in the tent city or along the outside of the barricades. Many had helmets and respirators or other covered faces as well as improvised shields. They shouted “we’re not afraid of you” or “all cops are assholes” at the police and sprayed them with foam from fire extinguishers.
The camp of pro-Palestinian activists at UCLA grew last week. The school management initially did not intervene against the initiative, but the problems started at the weekend, when a group of pro-Israel protesters arrived at the site and the meeting between the two sides was not without some shoving.
On Wednesday night, another pro-Israel group started violence at the site, which resulted in the injury of at least 15 people, AP wrote. According to diary The Los Angeles Times newcomers also attacked several Daily Bruin reporters. The police did not intervene until several hours later, which drew criticism from some students and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Where were you yesterday?” chanted the people staying in the camp today. The chancellor of the University of California previously announced that he was opening an investigation into the riots, including a police intervention, but at the same time the school ordered the dissolution of the pro-Palestinian protest on Wednesday.
US universities have varied approaches to the protests, but many have decided to call the police in recent days, saying the actions are creating too much tension on campuses and disrupting classes. In some places, including Columbia University, protesters blocked university buildings. According to AP, the police have already intervened in 30 schools and detained over 1,600 people in the last two weeks.
Participants in the protests demand that their schools sever any ties to Israel or companies that do business there. They express their disapproval of the way in which Israel is waging a war in Gaza against the terrorist movement Hamas, which they describe as genocide of the Palestinians.
