Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Members of the LAPD patrol the area formally occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Graffiti is painted over near the former Palestinian supporter encampment at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A “Free Palestine” banner still hangs on a barricade at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Only marks on the grass were tents were placed remain in the area formally occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
By 10:00 am much of the debris left by Palestinian supporters had been cleared out in front of Royce Hall at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Members of the LAPD patrol the area formally occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A woman carries away Palestinian support banners at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Crews clean up the encampment occupied by Palestinian supporters at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A Palestinian supporter carries away an image of the Palestinian flag at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2024. At around 3:30am law enforcement began arresting the supporters who had been camped out on the quad in front of Royce Hall for about a week. 132 occupiers were taken into custody and clean-up of the area began immediately. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A historic, weeklong protest at UCLA in solidarity with war-battered Gaza was over Thursday, May 2, just hours after waves of police in riot gear dismantled demonstrators’ massive encampment outside Royce Hall and detained dozens from a crowd estimated in the low thousands.
It was the coda to what had been days of protest that escalated into an “unlawful assembly,” then a violent confrontation with counter protesters, and finally, a large show of force by law enforcement, clad in riot gear, who moved on the crowd and their encampment Wednesday night and into Thursday morning.
By daybreak, roughly 200 had been arrested amidst a roiled campus community, and leaders from UCLA to the president of the United States were weighing in.
“Our community is in deep pain,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in a statement on Thursday. “We are reeling from days of violence and division. And we hope with all our hearts that we can return to a place where our students, faculty and staff feel safe and, one day, connected again.
“The past week has been among the most painful periods our UCLA community has ever experienced,” he said.”
On Thursday, the students — fueled by demands for a cease fire in Gaza and that UCLA divest from investments that fund Israel’s war against Hamas — vowed that their efforts were “not over.”
Some, who had steered clear of arrest overnight, came back early to the makeshift site now in rubble. A few were draped in Palestinian flags. Others carried them. Some voiced concern, and even fear, over a lost sense of security after a violent confrontation earlier in the week. But by shortly after 8 a.m., groups of LAPD officers were clearing them out from the Quad area near the campus’s Royce Hall, the site where much of the protesting occurred.
That area was a mess. The front exterior of historic Royce Hall, the campus’s iconic symbol, was tagged with extensive graffiti, some of it laced with profanity. Garbage and debris remained strewn through the remains of the encampment.
As the cleanup ensued, university officials lamented the division blanketing the campus while defending the administration’s response to the protest and to the violence that followed, which had been heavily criticized by demonstrators on both sides.
Toward the end of the day, prosecutors and public defenders were still sorting out what charges would be file against those arrested, and demonstrators continued to rally at Southern California campuses.
Scenes from the aftermath of mass arrests at UCLA this morning. The scene is eerily quiet punctuated by occasional cries of "Free Palestine" as a few lingering protesters wander through the encampment pic.twitter.com/Dcnkikkds1
An eerie silence hung over the remains of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment at 7:30 a.m, punctuated by the odd cry of “Free Palestine” as a few straggling protesters picked through the debris.
To the casual onlooker, the scene may look like the aftermath of an epic music festival with tents, food and clothing scattered across the Royce Quad.
However, a closer look revealed keffiyeh, Palestinian flags and masks strewn about — signaling the more serious and political nature of the occupation, which lasted for seven days.
At 8:30 a.m., LAPD officers returned to the encampment zone and ordered everyone to leave the area.
Around this time, Ryan, an exhausted yet enlivened 22-year-old student protester at UCLA, stumbled back on campus, his wrists covered in red slashes from where zip ties cut into his circulation.
He was among the many students arrested by California Highway Patrol in the very early hours of Thursday morning.
Kenza, a student media liaison for the encampment, said that 132 protesters were taken into custody. The Associated Press on Thursday reported that at least 200 people were arrested at UCLA, said Sgt. Alejandro Rubio of the CHP, citing data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Rubio said the arrestees were being booked at the county jails complex near downtown Los Angeles. UCLA police will determine what if any charges to seek.
Both Kenza and Ryan requested their last names not be shared due to safety concerns.
“I was on the frontlines and the cops hit me with their batons. They grabbed me and I did not resist arrest,” said Ryan.
Ryan said he was ziptied and transported with other protesters to an LA County Sheriff’s station in Downtown LA, where he was given a citation for unlawful assembly and then released.
On one hand, he felt dispirited that UCLA worked with law enforcement to clear the encampment and arrest students.
“The school would rather physically intimidate their students and eventually hurt their students, rather than even consider divestment,” he said. “That is what’s so frustrating.”
But on the other hand, he felt more determined than ever to continue pressuring the university to meet students’ demands. These include divesting from companies that do business with Israel, severing ties with Israeli universities and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“Of course we’ll be back, we’ll always be back, we’re never going to stop fighting for Palestine and for Palestinian liberation,” he said. “The student movement lives on.”
Police move in
The law enforcement offensive began roughly nine hours after dispersal orders were formally issued around 6 p.m. Wednesday. The announcement was rebroadcast every 30 minutes into the evening hours.
But the announcements in themselves did not move protesters.
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers clear a pro-Palestinian encampment after dispersal orders were given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared ‘unlawful’ by the university and scores of protestors who refused to leave were detained during the operation. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
A California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer detains a protestor while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment after dispersal orders were given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared ‘unlawful’ by the university and over 100 protestors who refused to leave were detained during the operation. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Demonstrators clash with police on the UCLA campus, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers detain protestors while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment after dispersal orders were given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared ‘unlawful’ by the university and scores of protestors who refused to leave were detained during the operation. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 02: California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers clear a pro-Palestinian encampment after a dispersal order was given at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The camp was declared ‘unlawful’ by the university and many protestors have been detained. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Police line up at an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Police enter an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Police break through a barrier set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Police break through a barrier set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Officers shot flash bangs as they advanced on a pro-Palestinian encampment Thursday morning at UCLA. (Photo by RMG News)
Police advance on pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A police officer stands under a Palestinian flag after a raid on an encampment on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
CHP officers in riot gear took down a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning in Westwood on May 2, 2024. A dispersal order was issued Wednesday evening and by 3:30 a.m. Thursday,
officers advanced on the encampment. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer)
Outside the encampment Wednesday evening, a crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps, joining in pro-Palestinian chants. A group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people demonstrated nearby.
Police clear returning demonstrators from the aftermath of a week of protest at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2023 (Photo by Clara Harter)
The crowd continued to grow as the night wore on as more and more officers poured onto campus.
The arrival of the hundreds of CHP officers broke the stalemate, though the officers faced some resistance and there were some scuffles with demonstrators. Officers also had to deal with demonstrators shining bright flashlights into their eyes. The sound of apparent flash bangs or fireworks could be heard as police moved in, and smoke rose from the scene. Journalists at the scene suggested some of the smoke may actually have come from fire extinguishers.
But a substantial number of protesters stayed behind, apparently resigning themselves to being arrested in the name of their cause. Police methodically began detaining protesters one at a time, using zip-ties to secure their hands behind their backs then walking them out of the area to be processed and eventually loaded into sheriff’s department buses.
The Daily Bruin reported that dozens were in custody as of 3:39 a.m.
There was no immediate word on any injuries to officers or protesters suffered during the operation.
Violence erupted Tuesday at the campus, just hours after UCLA declared the pro-Palestinian protesters’ days-long encampment “unlawful.” Gathered counter-protesters began firing fireworks at the other side, flashing strobe lights and blaring the amplified sounds of babies crying about 11 p.m., according to social media reports.
In the aftermath, UCLA officials have vowed an investigation into what some students and advocacy groups say was a lax response and inadequate planning amid simmering tensions.
The aftermath of a week of protest at UCLA on Thursday, May 2, 2023 (Photo by Clara Harter)
UCLA officials said all campus operations were “limited” Thursday and will be on Friday, and all normally in-person classes were “required to pivot to remote.”
“Employees are encouraged to work remotely wherever possible and should consult with their supervisors. Events and research activities are encouraged to go remote or be rescheduled wherever possible.”
The hospital and health system will remain open. UCLA Extension classes will continue, except for those scheduled on the UCLA campus, which will “either be moved to other locations or online.”
Traumatized
In talking to students Thursday, there was often a sense of trauma that emerged through the week, with many criticizing campus administration.
Throughout the estimated four-hour attack on our encampment I continuously became worried for my life,” said Yusef, a UCLA undergraduate who declined to give his full name. “I remember texting my family group chat, telling them I loved them as if I was about to die.”Yusef received fourteen staples to the back of his head after he was struck by a wooden plank during the attack.
Ryan, among the students arrested overnight Wednesday into Thursday, said “it’s been kind of hell” and “traumatizing,” as counterprotests shattered a fragile peace at the site.
Many students have criticized university administrators for letting things get out of hand.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other elected officials on Wednesday called for investigations into the university and police response to the violent attack on the encampment launched by counter-protesters Tuesday night. That attack was allowed to rage for several hours with little to no police intervention, until officers in riot gear finally moved in around 3 a.m. and restored order.
In a message to the UCLA community Wednesday afternoon, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called the overnight clashes the result of “instigators” who came to the campus to “forcefully attack the encampment.”
He and the the president of the UC have pledged investigations into university actions.
On Thursday, Block, who has served as chancellor since 2007, said on the university “approached the encampment with the goal of maximizing our community members’ ability to make their voices heard on an urgent global issue. We had allowed it to remain in place so long as it did not jeopardize Bruins’ safety or harm our ability to carry out our mission.”
But, he added, the encampment became “a focal point for serious violence as well as a huge disruption to our campus,” and so, officials decided early Thursday to direct UC police and outside law enforcement officers to enter and clear the encampment.
Charges
Block said while 200 were arrested, 300 voluntarily left.
The majority of those arrested were quickly processed and released, with most facing only possible misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly or failure to disperse, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, speaking to KNX News Thursday afternoon, said it was unlikely that many — if any — of the protesters would be facing possible felonies that would be handled by his office. Misdemeanor prosecutions within the city are handled by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
LA County Public Defender Ricardo D. García said his office was also mobilizing to provided legal representation and support to those who have been arrested or may face legal proceedings.
Biden says ‘order must prevail’
UCLA’s protests are part of nationwide student movement that began at Columbia, in New York, in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.
Since the Columbia demonstrations, the protests have grown unlike any student movement seen this century, reminiscent of the images of police crackdowns decades ago amid protests agains the Vietnam War.
Law enforcement has arrested more than 1,000 people.
President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza.
“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Tensions have been building for days as demonstrators refuse to remove campus encampments and administrators turn to police to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media.
Biden said he did not support calls to send in the National Guard. He also said that the protests have not prompted him to reconsider his approach to the war. The Democratic president has occasionally criticized Israel’s conduct but continued to supply it with weapons.
His remarks, occurring shortly before he left the White House for a trip to North Carolina, came after days of silence about the protests. Republicans have tried to turn the scenes of unrest into a campaign cudgel, and Biden said he rejected efforts to use the situation to “score political points.”
Back in L.A., Mayor Karen Bass said in the aftermath of overnight, officials were maintaining order.
Bass, whose office said she was at the Incident Command Post at UCLA overnight and into Thursday morning, said in a statement that “every student deserves to be safe and live peacefully on their campus.”
“My office will continue to coordinate closely with local and state law enforcement, area universities and community leaders to keep campuses safe and peaceful,” she said.
Across Southern California
As things settled for the moment at UCLA, demonstrations continued across the region, where campus communities rallied.
In Orange County, at UC Irvine, for instance, a university spokesperson on day four of the Gaza-solidarity encampment there, said there were no updates on whether the university will take further action regarding the protest in light of the dismantling of the encampment at UCLA.
As of mid-morning Thursday, the situation at UCI appeared to be very calm. Pro-Palestinian students huddled inside the barricaded encampment zone while just a handful of reporters walked around and several TV cameras pointed at them. The students also want the university to grant amnesty for demonstrators.
Cal State San Bernardino students marching to a demonstration outside the campus library shortly before noon Thursday, criticizing Israel with chants and signs demanding a cease fire in Gaza.
At Cal State Long Beach, hundreds demonstrated all day. There were no immediate reports of any violence or arrests in connection with the gathering, although the Daily Forty-Niner campus newspaper reported some minor confrontations with students frustrated that the protest was partially blocking access to the Brotman Hall building.
At USC, where 93 people were arrested during a Palestinian protest last week, the campus implemented updated campus-entry procedures Thursday as it remains under a state of heightened security with graduations only days away.
Students there have been critical of the police response.
Bennie Andon, a 21-year-old Biology major at USC, said it was the first time he had seen police ‘crack down like this’, and recalled the events of Apr. 24, when Los Angeles Police officers clad in riot gear conducted mass arrests at the encampment, firing rubber bullets at Pro-Palestinian protesters, according to footage obtained by USC Annenberg Media.
“They shouldn’t have been called in the first place,” Jo Branson, a 20-year-old Film and TV Production major said.
Staff Writers Nathaniel Percy, Mona Darwish, Christina Merino, Mercedes Cannon-Tran, Beau Yarbrough and Hunter Lee contributed to this article. City News Service and the Associated Press also contributed to this article.
