UCLA: Police clear pro-Palestinian camp, arrest protesters

Hundreds of police in riot gear have cleared a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Police arrived before dawn Thursday after ordering more than 1,000 protesters to leave the area.

Officers knocked down makeshift barriers and set off grenades and flares as they dismantled the siege, which was erected on campus a week ago.

More than 100 protesters were reportedly detained in the raid.

The student-organized pro-Palestinian rallies and camps, which began at Columbia University in New York City on April 17, have spread to more than two dozen states and at least six other countries.

In many cases police assistance has been requested and violence has broken out on some campuses. The total of arrests across the country over the past fortnight now exceeds 1,000.

President Joe Biden directly addressed the wave of protests in remarks from the White House on Thursday, urging participants to uphold the rule of law while exercising their freedom of expression.

“We are a civil society and order must prevail,” he said. “Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is.”

“Vandalism, breaking and entering, breaking windows, closing campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations… none of this is a peaceful protest,” he added.

The protesters, who are pushing for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, have demanded that academic institutions financially boycott Israel and companies seeking to make money from the conflict.

But as Jewish students have said they feel unsafe at their universities, with increasing reports of anti-Semitic chants and incidents, threats and harassment, and university life disrupted, university leaders are under increasing pressure to curb the protests.

Bubbling tensions on the UCLA campus erupted when a masked pro-Israel group arrived on campus Tuesday night and attacked campers. Police appeared to move slowly and were criticized by students, observers and some political leaders for their response.

Much of Wednesday was calm before the storm returned. After regaining control of the area, law enforcement created a tight security cordon at the school’s Dickson Plaza and closely monitored the pro-Palestinian gathering, which administrators had already declared “an unlawful assembly.”

Under the shadow of the iconic Royce Hall performing arts building, riot officers repeatedly shouted into megaphones early Thursday morning for protesters to leave the lawn or “risk serious injury.”

Flash explosions (explosives designed to disorient people) and flares then erupted, and many protesters fled the scene as members of the media sought cover.

A video taken from the scene and posted on social media shows an officer firing rubber bullets.

One student, Taylor Gee, told the BBC that it appeared police were using “explosive sticks” to “instill fear” among protesters and make arrests.

“They are extraordinarily loud and bright, and they were using that to basically push all the camp supporters to a different part of campus,” he said.

But even as police breached their perimeter and outnumbered them with reinforcements, several dozen protesters stood their ground. Some could be seen locking their arms and using their plywood barriers as makeshift shields, while others wore helmets and appeared to arm themselves with umbrellas.

They shouted “get off our campus,” “peaceful protest,” “resist at any cost,” and “what side of history do you want to be on.”

When police dismantled the encampment, they detained protesters with zip ties, seating several of them on the grass but dragging some to line the sidewalk next to waiting police buses.

Dickson Plaza was practically empty when the sun came up.

Kenza, a UCLA student involved in the protests who did not give her last name, told the BBC that the camp had been “completely peaceful.”

“It is absolutely ridiculous that we are considered a threat to civil society when the reality is that we have been harassed over the past week,” he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was at UCLA overnight, along with police leaders in an “incident command post.”

“Harassment, vandalism and violence have no place at UCLA or anywhere in our city,” he said in a statement.

Campus operations will be “limited” on Thursday and Friday, all classes will move to remote instruction and the community will be asked to “continue to avoid the campus and the Royce Quad area.”

The school’s president has been invited to testify on Capitol Hill later this month, at a Republican-led hearing titled “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Anti-Semitic Campus Mayhem.”

The protest movement continues at several universities across the country, and some institutions (including Northwestern, Brown, and the University of Vermont) have agreed to hear proposals on divestment from student representatives.

But academic and political leaders continue to grapple with the dissent of many young Americans at universities, large and small. public and private, about the war in Gaza.

Arrests have been made in the last 24 hours at Yale, Dartmouth, Stony Brook, Portland State, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas at Dallas.