Columns of anti-Israel activists wielding shields clashed with armored Californian riot police in pre-dawn engagements as law enforcement officers attempted to remove a protest encampment from the University of California Los Angeles campus on Thursday, according to local pro-Palestinian student groups.
Students for Justice in Palestine claimed that they had managed to repel attempts by police to enter during the night, but during the early light of day, authorities had managed to remove some materials from the tent settlement.
Around fifty police officers employed tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullet launchers, SJP said. Some students had been arrested.
“All eyes on Gaza,” activists chanted early Thursday morning from behind barricades: “All eyes on Rafah.”
Anti-Israel activists prepared for attempts by law enforcement to remove their encampment by calling on activists to join them at the occupation site and bring medical and protective gear to defy authorities. They amassed a contingent of hundreds, according to some of the videos posted.
The encampment groups refused to disperse until their demands for the university to adopt boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) policies were met.
Students were advised to avoid campus
UCLA on Wednesday evening advised students to avoid the campus on Thursday and Friday, and said classes would be shifted to online platforms.
SJP decried attempts to dislodge their settlement, saying it was the second time in as many days that they had been attacked. The anti-Israel group posted a statement by encampment organizers, claiming that for several hours on Tuesday, pro-Israel activists attacked the encampment with pepper spray, fireworks, and bricks. They alleged that campus security didn’t take any action to help the pro-Palestinian students.
“The Zionist attack, their use of chemical weaponry, their hatred, their destruction, are but a microcosm of the genocide in Gaza,” said the encampment statement. “The university would rather see us dead than divest.”
The Los Angeles Police Department said that it and other agencies had intervened in violent clashes between protesters, and separated the two groups.
“No arrests were made, no force was used, and no officers were injured,” the LAPD said on X on Wednesday.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block condemned the attack and assured everyone that after an investigation, there may be arrests, expulsions and dismissals of anyone involved in the incident.
“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable. It has shaken our campus to its core and – adding to other abhorrent incidents that we have witnessed and that have circulated on social media over the past several days – further damaged our community’s sense of security,” said Block.
“I want to express my sincere sympathy to those who were injured last night, and to all those who have been harmed or have feared for their safety in recent days. No one at this university should have to encounter such violence.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that she met with various local and regional law enforcement agencies about the violence on the campus.
Clashes to be investigated
“There must be a full investigation into what occurred on campus last night. Those involved in launching fireworks at other people, spraying chemicals and physically assaulting others will be found, arrested, and prosecuted, as well as anyone involved in any form of violence or lawlessness,” Bass wrote on X on Wednesday. “I want to make sure the message I delivered to law enforcement and other officials earlier today is clear: Free speech will be protected. Violence and bigotry will not.”
UCLA Hillel Executive Director Dan Gold issued a video statement in support of the Jewish students who had endured the anti-Israel campus occupation, and rejected the use of violence by outside instigators. Gold said that he was working to keep such elements away from campus.
Bruins for Israel condemned the violence, and claimed that “UCLA students and members of our community were not the perpetrators of the altercations.”
“We are respectfully asking all outside organizations to step away from our campus and allow UCLA to be a safe learning place for all students,” said the pro-Israel UCLA group. “However, we must also condemn the violence and hateful rhetoric coming from the encampment, both from UCLA students and those not affiliated with the university.”
The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles said that the “abhorrent actions of a few counter-protesters last night” didn’t represent the Jewish community and blamed violence on the lack of leadership by the university administration.
“The chancellor has allowed for an environment to be created over many months that has made students feel unsafe, allowed for illegal encampments in violation of its own laws, refused to censure faculty and staff who flouted UCLA’s Code of Conduct, and has been systemically slow to respond when law enforcement is desperately needed,” the federation said on Wednesday.
UCLA has been host to aggressive and tense confrontations since the establishment of the encampment last Friday. Jewish students claimed that they had been denied access to some areas of the campus when attempting to attend classes. A Jewish Native American activist claimed that she was pushed by anti-Israel protesters last Thursday when she held a sign that read that “Hamas supporters are not welcome on native land.”
Tzvi Joffre and Danielle Greyman-Kennard contributed to this report.