Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers clashed with protesters on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after a second pro-Palestinian camp emerged.
Videos and Photos Share online Video showed a group of protesters lining up to block LAPD officers, who were wearing helmets and carrying batons, pushing back protesters with sticks and their hands.
According to ABC 7 reporter Josh Haskell, UCLA police broke the locks that secured the barricades and entered the encampment. The LAPD was in charge of crowd control. He said.
A small group of protesters set up a few tents in an outdoor space on campus Thursday morning and grew to several hundred by the afternoon. Police in riot gear pushed back the crowds and broke up the encampments. The Los Angeles Times reported..
It is unclear whether any arrests were made or whether anyone was injured, but graduate students told The Times it was a very tense and violent environment.
University unions announced Thursday they were expanding their ongoing strike over working conditions to the UCLA and UC Davis campuses, saying their free speech was being violated when university officials forced police to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment, the media reported.
The clashes follow a similar incident in late April when counter-demonstrators tried to break through barriers the university had erected to separate pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, leading to physical clashes.
Police cleared the encampment on April 30 and about 200 people were arrested, the Associated Press reported.
The university released a statement condemning the April incident, saying it was “heartbreaking” that violence erupted because the university has a “long history” of being a place where people can peacefully protest.
UCLA’s police chief was also temporarily transferred following the violent exchange. The university said John Thomas had been temporarily transferred while it investigated the university’s security procedures.
UCLA is one of many universities across the country that have held pro-Palestinian protests to denounce the U.S. role in the war between Israel and Hamas and call on universities to divest from Israeli companies and those that supply arms to Israel.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
