Police breaking up UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment

LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — Dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles were arrested Thursday morning, waiting to load buses to be processed by law enforcement and transported to the Inmate Reception Center for holding.

Multiple law enforcement agencies moved in early Thursday to break up an encampment on campus, setting off flash-bangs and arresting some pro-Palestinian protesters.

Protesters responded to law enforcement tactics with chants, including “You don’t scare us” and “We’re not leaving.” They also have been spraying some sort of tear gas or bear spray at approaching officers.

Police began arresting more protesters as the encampment barrier was taken down by authorities. There were also negotiators on the front lines, trying to encourage protesters to leave. All responding agencies have shown significant restraint, slowly encroaching and dismantling the encampment.

Over a loudspeaker, police urged people to clear the university grounds. NewsNation correspondent Nancy Loo, who has been covering the conflict on the ground, reported that there seems to be a pattern of tactics from police. She said there was a cycle, starting with waves of flash-bangs, police moving in and then an announcement from police to disperse.

Retired Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Jerry Rodriguez said police movement has to be very calculated and methodical, especially to ensure all agencies assisting in the approach work together as one unit. Plus, the encampment has been reportedly booby-trapped by protesters, and officers don’t know what they will run into while dismantling the camp.

“It’s a travesty that we allowed it to get to where it did,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said his biggest concern is how it was allowed to escalate to this level.

UCLA law student Matthew Weinberg has remained on campus despite the chaos. Weinberg told NewsNation that it is “super unfortunate” that the campus has turned into what some might consider a “war zone.”

“The school should have handled this way earlier,” Weinberg said. “I think that a bunch of the pro-Palestinian activists, many who are standing right behind me, they were violating campus policy. They were assaulting Jewish students. They were threatening them. They were drawing graffiti on the sidewalks. Frankly speaking, the school did nothing about it.”

Weinberg said it’s an uneasy feeling as a Jewish student. He also knows many other Jewish students who don’t feel safe going to class and knows some who have even been assaulted.

He believes that UCLA has prioritized people who are breaking the law over people who want to engage in the free exchange of ideas.

“We want peaceful discussions that actually can maybe find solutions and better understand each other. The school is stonewalling that. Here, they are prioritizing these agitators,” Weinberg said.

Police breach encampment, forced out

Law enforcement agencies — including the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol — were initially called to the UCLA campus early Wednesday morning after violence escalated between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters.

During the overnight hours into Thursday morning, additional police personnel arrived on campus, ready to clear out the pro-Palestinian encampment — fulfilling a request from the university for assistance.

However, after briefly entering the camp, police agencies were pushed out by protesters inside, some even using umbrellas to physically push the responding officers out.

Later Thursday morning, police began tearing down the encampment barriers and moved in to disperse the protesters.

Overhead television cameras showed students in the barricaded area passing out goggles and helmets, as well as setting up medical aid stations. A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people gathered nearby.

Law enforcement donned riot gear as they ordered the dispersal of more than a thousand people who had gathered in support of the encampment, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave could face arrest.

UCLA’s ’emergency’ message

UCLA posted an emergency message to its website, urging all students and personnel to avoid Royce Quad. All classes have been required to pivot to remote learning for the remainder of the week, and all employees have been encouraged to work remotely.

The university has been urged to do more amid the chaos that has ensued, especially since protesters refused to follow orders to leave the campus.

“There is a large police presence from multiple law enforcement agencies after outside mobs attacked peaceful student protesters last night with no one protecting them,” Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia wrote on X. “Students now face police. We urge ULCA & City leaders to protect students, not do more harm.”

Violent clashes between protest groups

The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers.

Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, and no one was arrested. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.

Classes were canceled Wednesday following the clashes between the two sides of protesters.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”

Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor denounced the delays.

“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus later Wednesday when some Muslim students detailed the overnight events.

Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to a hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.

Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. 

Politicians respond to UCLA’s situation

Former President Donald Trump responded to the UCLA encampment Thursday morning, writing a statement on his social media network Truth Social.

“THIS IS A RADICAL LEFT REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY. WHERE IS CROOKED JOE BIDEN? WHERE IS GOVERNOR NEWSCUM? THE DANGER TO OUR COUNTRY IS FROM THE LEFT, NOT FROM THE RIGHT!!!” Trump said.

The White House has been fairly quiet regarding the college protests happening across the nation.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, in a statement on X, said the violence between protest groups was “absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.”

Bass called for a full investigation into what had occurred on campus, including the delayed police response.

Newsom wrote that the right to free speech “does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus.”

“Those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions — including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion,” Newsom said.

He went on to criticize what he said was a “limited and delayed” campus law enforcement response at UCLA, saying it was “unacceptable” and “demands answers.”

The impending crackdown at UCLA is the latest flashpoint for mounting tensions on U.S. college campuses where protests over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza have led to student clashes with each other, school administrators and law enforcement.

Demonstrations across the nation

Universities across the U.S. have been grappling with how to deal with encampments as commencement ceremonies approach, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.

The number of arrests at campuses nationwide have exceeded 1,000 as the final days of class wrap up.

The outcry is forcing colleges to reckon with their financial ties to Israel as well as their support for free speech. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

Protesters have said, though, that those being antisemitic do not represent them and pointed out that many Jewish students are joining them in their cause.

Some student demonstrators held signs saying “Jews for Free Palestine” or “Jews for Palestine,” while pictures on social media circulated of Passover seders being held at the encampments.

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