In Pictures | Riot Police enter UCLA day after campus clashes between pro-Israel, pro-Palestine protesters
financialexpress.comLaw enforcement officers gathered in large numbers on Wednesday evening at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest camp attacked the previous night by pro-Israel supporters.
Pictures showed police in tactical gear entering the UCLA campus near a cluster of tents occupied by protesters. Some activists wore protective gear like hard hats, goggles and respirator masks, expecting the impending raid following the university’s declaration of the encampment as unlawful.
UCLA has suspended classes for the day and set to conduct an investigation over the issue. The UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has confirmed the investigation can lead to “arrests, expulsions and dismissals.”
As per the official statement by the university, an “appalling” assault on pro-Palestinian demonstrators, which came hours after their encampment had been declared an unlawful assembly by UCLA, was committed “by a group of instigators.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom have issued separate statements condemning the overnight violence and called for an investigation. However, neither the Los Angeles Police Department nor the university have agreed to give official statements about arrests to news agency Reuters.
Amidst escalating tensions at UCLA, clashes erupted as counter-demonstrators, some masked and seemingly unrelated to the campus, engaged in violent confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters.
The turmoil followed UCLA’s declaration of an unlawful encampment on campus, sparking clashes where objects were hurled, barriers attacked, and pro-Jewish remarks yelled. Both sides resorted to pepper spray, with allegations of counter-protesters launching fireworks and wielding bats
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