Hundreds of Los Angeles riot police used batons, pepper spray and flash bangs to break up pro-Palestinian protests and clear out a Gaza Solidarity Camp on the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) campus Thursday.
The heavy-handed police operation came a day after pro-Israeli goons attacked pro-Palestinian student protesters and marked the latest flashpoint for mounting tensions on U.S. college campus protests over Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
Live TV footage showed about six protesters under arrest, kneeling on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs with zip-ties.
Dozens of loud explosions were heard during the clash from flash-bang charges, or stun grenades, fired by police.
Demonstrators, some carrying makeshift shields and umbrellas, sought to block the officers' advance by their sheer numbers, while shouting, "push them back" and flashing bright lights in the eyes of the police.
Others on the opposite side of the camp gave up quickly and were seen walking away with their hands over their heads under police escort.
Around sunset Wednesday, officers in tactical gear had begun filing onto the UCLA campus and taking up positions adjacent to a complex of tents occupied by throngs of demonstrators, live footage from the scene showed.
Local television station KABC-TV estimated 300 to 500 protesters were hunkered down inside the camp, while around 2,000 more had gathered outside the barricades in support.
But the assembled police stood by on the periphery for hours before finally starting to force their way into the encampment around 3:15 a.m. PDT (1015 GMT), tearing down barricades and arresting occupants who refused to leave. The raid was led by a phalanx of California Highway Patrol officers carrying shields and batons.
Some of the protesters had been seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the siege a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.
Before moving in, police with a loudspeaker urged the demonstrators to clear the protest area in a grassy plaza between the landmark twin-tower auditorium Royce Hall and the main undergraduate library.
An initial group of Los Angeles police officers who briefly entered a corner of the camp were overwhelmed by demonstrators and forced to retreat, before reinforcements arrived by the busload about an hour later.
UCLA had canceled classes for the day following a violent clash between the encampment's occupants and a group of masked counterdemonstrators who mounted a surprise assault late Tuesday night on the tent city.
The occupants of the outdoor protest camp, set up last week, had remained otherwise peaceful before the melee, in which both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray.
Members of the pro-Palestinian group said fireworks were thrown at them and they were beaten with bats and sticks. University officials blamed the disturbance on "instigators" and vowed an investigation.
The confrontation continued for two or three hours into early Wednesday morning before police restored order. A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom later criticized the "limited and delayed campus law enforcement response" to the unrest as "unacceptable."
As the much-expanded police force entered the campus on Wednesday night to clear the encampment, some protesters were heard yelling at them, "Where were you yesterday?"
UCLA officials said the campus operations would resume on a limited basis Thursday and Friday.
Wednesday night's police operation came a day after police in New York City arrested pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and removed a tent city from the campus of the Ivy League school.
Police arrested a total of about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York, Mayor Eric Adams said. Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.
The clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of U.S. student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.
Ninety pro-Palestinian demonstrators – students and outsiders – were arrested at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire on Wednesday, the Hanover Police Department said. They were charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest.
The protests follow the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion of southern Israel and the ensuing Israeli military offensive on the Palestinian enclave that killed over 34,500 people.
Students have rallied or set up tent encampments at dozens of schools across the U.S. in recent days, calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and demanding schools divest from companies that support Israel's government. Many of the schools have called in police to quell the protests.
The demonstrations across the country have been met with counterprotesters accusing them of inciting anti-Jewish hatred. The pro-Palestinian side, including Jews opposed to Israeli actions in Gaza, say they are being unfairly branded as antisemitic for criticizing Israel's government and expressing support for human rights.
The issue has taken on political overtones in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.
