Violence, chaos erupts on campuses as protesters and counter-protesters clash over the war in Gaza
JOHN ANTZAK, ETHAN SWOPE, JAKE OFFENHARTZ and JOSEPH B. FREDERICK
Associated Press
Updated
KCAL’s Kara Finnstrom has the latest from UCLA campus where multiple law enforcement agencies continue to monitor the area after violence broke out between dueling protest groups.
LOS ANGELES — University of California administrators and police faced criticism Wednesday for failing to act quickly to stop an attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus by counter-demonstrators 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 on some college campuses nationally 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.
At other campuses across the U.S., officers' actions were strongly condemned.
At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, activists clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents early Wednesday. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. More tents sprang up within hours. Police said four people were charged with battering law enforcement officers.
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.
At UCLA, Chancellor Gene Block said "a group of instigators" perpetrated the attack but did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner. He promised a review after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor denounced the police delays.
"However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable," he said. "It has shaken our campus to its core."
UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.
Speakers disputed 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 one another, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters.
In the evening, hundreds of supporters of the pro-Palestinian protesters, including students and alumni, stood on campus steps beyond the encampment while law enforcement presence grew. A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people gathered nearby.
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Metal and wooden barriers were restored around the encampment. Overhead TV cameras showed people in the enclosure distributing goggles, helmets and other gear, and medical assistance tents that were set up later in the day.
Announcements broadcasted on the campus told demonstrators to disperse or they would be arrested and face a misdemeanor charge. The protesters largely stayed in place, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. “We need to take a stand for it,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
Protesters on campuses across the U.S. call for universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and commencement ceremonies.
At Brown University in Rhode Island, demonstrators closed their encampment Tuesday after administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.
The nationwide campus demonstrations began April 17 at Columbia to protest Israel's offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Since then, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry there.
Late Tuesday, New York City police officers entered Columbia's campus and cleared a tent encampment, along with Hamilton Hall, where officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window. Demonstrators took over the school building about 20 hours earlier; police said protesters inside presented no substantial resistance.
Columbia on Wednesday called Hamilton Hall "an active crime scene" under NYPD investigation and limited campus access, barring the media.
Blocks away from Columbia, video footage showed officers forcing some protesters to the ground at The City College of New York late Tuesday and shoving others as they cleared the street and sidewalks.
Close to 300 protesters were arrested in the crackdowns at Columbia and City College, officials said.
Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the U.S., including Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel's critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition.
Demonstrators restore a protective barrier Wednesday at an encampment on the UCLA campus, the morning after clashes between Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian groups, in Los Angeles.