On Wednesday evening, law enforcement officers on the UCLA campus donned riot gear and ordered the dispersal of over a thousand protesters who had gathered in support of a pro-Palestinian student encampment, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave would face arrest.
A large crowd of students, alumni, and neighbors gathered on the steps outside the barred tent area, sitting and applauding various speakers while joining in pro-Palestinian chanting. Overheard television cameras saw students in the restricted area handing out goggles and helmets and setting up medical assistance stations. A small group of students, waving placards and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jews, gathered nearby.
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The law enforcement presence and ongoing warnings contrasted with the scene the night before, when counter-demonstrators stormed the pro-Palestinian encampment, tossing traffic cones, spraying pepper spray, and ripping down barriers. Police intervened after many hours of fighting, but they did not arrest anyone. Government leaders, Muslim students, and advocacy groups sparked criticism of the police’s lackluster response after at least 15 demonstrators sustained injuries.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, stated that he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian activists.
“We need to take a stand for it,” he stated. “Enough is enough.”
Meanwhile, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, activists clashed with police officers who removed their tents early Wednesday, and police dismantled an encampment at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire just hours after pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up a few tents. According to local media sources, officers arrested a number of people, including at least one professor.
The tumultuous images occurred early Wednesday after police stormed into a building besieged by anti-war protestors at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the New York school.
An Associated Press tally shows that at least 38 arrests have occurred during university protests around the United States since April 18. Thirty schools have seen the arrest of more than 1,600 people.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block stated in a statement that “a group of instigators” carried out the previous night’s incident, but he did not disclose information on the crowd or why the administration and campus police did not intervene sooner.
“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty, and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he told the crowd. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”
Block promised a study of the night’s events after California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti criticized 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, where some Muslim students recalled the nocturnal events.
Speakers disputed the university’s claim of 15 injuries and one hospitalization, asserting that the actual number of hospitalized individuals was higher. One student recounted the need to visit the hospital after counter-protesters struck him in the head with an instrument.
Several students who took part in the news conference said that when attacked, they had to rely on one another rather than the police for support, and that many in the pro-Palestinian campsite remained calm and avoided engaging with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes on Wednesday.
Tent encampments of demonstrators calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or corporations that they claim support the Gaza war have grown across campuses nationwide, in a student movement unlike any other this century. The subsequent police crackdowns resembled measures taken decades before against a far larger protest movement against the Vietnam War.
In Madison, a scuffle broke out early Wednesday as police with shields dismantled all but one tent and shoved demonstrators. Authorities reported that a skateboard hit a state trooper in the head, causing injuries to four cops. Authorities charged four people with beating law enforcement.
This is all taking place in an election year in the United States, prompting concerns about whether young voters, who are key to Democrats, will support President Joe Biden’s reelection bid given his unwavering support for Israel.
In rare cases, university administrators and protest leaders reached an agreement to minimize the disturbance to campus life and the approaching graduation celebrations.
In October, administrators at Brown University in Rhode Island agreed to examine a vote to divest from Israel—reportedly the first college in the United States to do so.
The nationwide campus rallies began at Columbia on April 17 to condemn Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which came after Hamas launched a devastating strike on southern Israel on October 7. Militants killed over 1,200 individuals, the majority of whom were civilians, and kidnapped around 250 hostages. According to the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry, Israel has killed over 34,000 Palestinians in order to eliminate Hamas.
Israel and its supporters have labeled the campus protests antisemitic, while detractors claim Israel is using the claims to stifle criticism. Although some protestors have been captured on tape shouting antisemitic slurs or violent threats, demonstration organizers, some of whom are Jewish, claim the campaign is peaceful and aims to support Palestinian rights while also denouncing the war.
Late Tuesday, New York City police officers invaded Columbia’s campus and evicted an encampment, including Hamilton Hall, where a stream of cops used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window. Police said protestors inside offered no significant opposition.
The activists had taken over the Ivy League school building approximately 20 hours earlier, increasing their presence on campus from a tent encampment that had been there for about two weeks.
Police cleared tents early Sunday, made over 100 arrests, and threatened to suspend them unless they left the campsite by Monday. Instead, demonstrators occupied Hamilton Hall early Tuesday.
On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for spearheading the rallies, citing the presence of a lady on Columbia’s campus whose husband Adams claimed had been “convicted for terrorism.” Nahla Al-Arian was not on Columbia’s campus this week, nor was one of the demonstrators arrested.
Al-Arian, a former elementary school teacher, told The Associated Press that Adams misrepresented both her involvement in the protests and the facts about her husband, Sami Al-Arian, a prominent Palestinian activist. Nahla Al-Arian stated that she went to Columbia for one day on April 25 to view the protest encampment but departed when she became exhausted.
Police cleared protest encampments across the United States, leading to arrests, or voluntarily closed them at schools like The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Tulane University in New Orleans.
