Tension grows on UCLA campus as police order dispersal of large pro-Palestinian gathering
LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement officers on the UCLA campus donned riot gear Wednesday night as they ordered the dispersal of more than a thousand people who had gathered in support of a pro-Palestinian student camp, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave would be arrested could be.
A small town emerged within the barricaded camp, filled with hundreds of people and tents on the campus grounds. Some protesters prayed as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we are not leaving” or handed out goggles and surgical masks. Wearing helmets and headscarves, they discussed the best ways to deal with pepper spray or tear gas as someone sang into a megaphone.
Some made homemade shields from plywood in case they clashed with police forming skirmish lines elsewhere on campus.
Meanwhile, a large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on the campus steps outside the tents, listening and applauding several speakers and joining in pro-Palestinian chants. A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and the Jewish people demonstrated nearby.
The law enforcement presence and continued warnings contrasted with the scene that unfolded the night before, when counterprotesters attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. The fighting lasted for several hours before police intervened, although no arrests were made. At least fifteen protesters were injured, and the authorities’ lukewarm response drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday night to support the pro-Palestinian protesters.
“We have to take a stand on that,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire made arrests and tore down tents at Dartmouth College, and officers in Oregon responded to the Portland State University campus as school officials tried to end the library occupation that began Monday.
The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police raided a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday evening, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.
An Associated Press count counted at least 38 arrests made at campus protests across the US since April 18. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” carried out the previous night’s attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
“No matter how you feel about the camp, this attack on our students, teachers and community members was completely unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”
Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Governor Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Los Angeles denounced the delays.
“The community needs to feel that the police protect them and do not allow others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said later Wednesday at a news conference on the Los Angeles campus, where several Muslim students detailed the night’s events.
Speakers disputed the university’s report that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to hospital was higher. One student described having to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.
Several students who spoke at the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not police, for support when they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian camp remained peaceful and had no contact with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes on Wednesday.
Tent camps of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across the country in a student movement unlike any other this century. The subsequent police action mirrored actions that took place decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
In Madison, a struggle broke out early Wednesday after police carrying shields removed all but one of the tents and pushed protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with assaulting police.
This is all playing out in an election year in the US, raising questions about whether young voters – who are crucial for Democrats – will support President Joe Biden’s re-election efforts given his staunch support for Israel.
In rare cases, university officials and protest leaders entered into agreements to limit disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote on divesting from Israel in October — apparently the first American college to agree to such a demand.
The nationwide campus demonstrations began in Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed the launch of a deadly attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas and has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to its health ministry.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests as anti-Semitic, while Israeli critics say it is using the accusations to silence the opposition. Although some demonstrators have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Meanwhile, protest camps elsewhere were cleared by police, resulting in arrests, or voluntarily closed at schools across the US, including the City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University of New Orleans.
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Offenhartz and Frederick reported from New York. Associated Press journalists from around the country contributed to this report, including John Antczak, Christopher L. Keller, Lisa Baumann, Cedar Attanasio, Jonathan Mattise, Stefanie Dazio, Jae C. Hong, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews, Sarah Brumfield, Carolyn Thompson, Philip Marcelo, Corey Williams and Felicia Fonseca.