Clashes erupt across college campuses over war in Gaza
UCLA, police face criticism over attack on pro-Palestinian encampment
Administrators and campus police at UCLA faced intense criticism Wednesday for failing to act quickly to stop an attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus by counterdemonstrators who threw traffic cones and chairs, released pepper spray and tore down barriers.
Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators fought back, and skirmishes continued for hours before outside law enforcement agencies were called to intervene.
No one was arrested, and at least 15 protesters suffered injuries in the confrontation, part of a recent spate of escalating violence that’s occurring on some college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war.
“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 detailed the overnight events.
The call for more police intervention at UCLA stood in stark contrast to other campuses across the U.S., where officers’ actions were strongly condemned. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, activists clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents early Wednesday.
The chaotic scenes unfolded early Wednesday after police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the New York school.
An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor denounced the delays.
Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.
Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the proPalestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counterprotesters.
Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition.