Los Angeles, California – At the entrance to the pro-Palestinian camp at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on Wednesday, events unfold in an orderly and silent manner, save for the constant drone of a police helicopter hovering overhead.
Those who wanted to enter formed a line and organizers instructed them on the basic rules: not to engage with police or journalists. Ignore the counter-protesters. Do not litter. Do not smoke or drink.
But despite the relative calm, tensions were high. A few hours earlier, during the night, a group of pro-Israel counter-protesters attacked the camp, tearing down barricades and attacking protesters with metal pipes, mace and pepper spray. Fireworks were also fired at the camp.
Classes at UCLA were canceled on Wednesday and the administration released a statement condemning the “horrific acts of violence” against the camp, which was erected in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Anna, a spokeswoman for the camp who declined to give her last name, said dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were injured or pepper-sprayed in the attack, which lasted from Tuesday night until the early morning hours of Wednesday.
She added that the attack occurred in part under the watchful eye of police, who intervened several hours after the violence began.
“The police did nothing,” she told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, noting that she still felt the lingering effects of being pepper-sprayed and punched by an attacker from the pro-Israel contingent. She explained that she spent hours helping other injured people.
“They came to us with metal pipes. Many people went to the hospital because of the severity of their injuries. One person came out in a wheelchair. Another had his hand completely crushed.”
In an anonymously written statement to Al Jazeera, members of the UCLA Radio News Department echoed that assessment, saying that campus police did little to help the pro-Palestine camp.
“While students were relentlessly pursued by counter-protesters, campus security and the University of California Police Department (UCPD) continued to observe and not get involved. No effort was made to protect UCLA students,” they wrote.
“Additionally, when the LAPD and California Highway Patrol were called to the scene, they did not intervene with the violent protesters for an hour.”
At dawn on Wednesday, the space previously used by pro-Israel protesters was largely empty, with several large Israeli flags fluttering in the wind. Reports of an increased police presence, however, led to suspicions that the pro-Palestine camp would be evacuated later in the day.
UCLA police and CSC Los Angeles, a security and event management company employed on campus, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions by press time.
Anna sees a contrast between the police’s apathetic response to last night’s violence and the way authorities aggressively dismantled pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the country.
In New York City, for example, around 282 protesters were detained overnight as police dispersed demonstrations at Columbia University and City College of New York.
On Wednesday, there was a large police presence on the UCLA campus, with about a dozen patrol cars facing the camp.
Still, it was a sleepy scene: protesters listened to the speeches in silence, while officers were observed checking their phones. The occasional busybody showed up but was largely ignored.
Anna told Al Jazeera that Tuesday night’s attack was the culmination of several days of harassment.
The aggression of pro-Israel counter-protesters, she said, grew with “increasing severity.” There was even an attempt the night before to break into the camp.
Anna said counter-protesters also set up loudspeakers at night to play a handful of songs repeatedly, in an apparent effort to deprive protesters of sleep and disrupt their peace of mind. She compared her methods to those used against Palestinian prisoners by Israeli forces.
But she emphasized that students at the camp do not want violence to detract from their message.
They prefer to keep the focus on Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and displaced more than 90% of the enclave’s population.
Despite reports of rights abuses by Israeli forces, the US government has remained steadfast in its support for Israel’s military offensive.
University protesters like those at UCLA demand an end to university investments in companies considered complicit in Israel’s war and occupation of Palestinian territories. They also called for an end to university relations with Israeli institutions.
“Even though we faced this incredible violence last night, this is not about us as students,” Anna said. “This is about how we, as students, can draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians and the genocide in Gaza. What brought so many people to this camp was our love for Palestine, for the life and dignity of freedom of the Palestinians.”
Political pressure
The attack on the camp is one of the most violent manifestations of rising tensions on U.S. college campuses.
Students from coast to coast erected camps, occupied buildings, and performed other acts of civil disobedience in opposition to U.S. support for the war.
However, university administrators and elected officials, including President Joe Biden, have alleged that the protests include instances of anti-Semitism, thus creating an unsafe learning environment for Jewish students.
However, organizers of the protests at UCLA and elsewhere reject that claim. The Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities have reported increases in harassment and discrimination since the war in Gaza began almost seven months ago on October 7.
“These protests only turned violent at the behest of pro-Israel protesters, many of whom are not even students at the institution,” wrote members of the UCLA Radio News Department in their statement to Al Jazeera.
“As students, we shouldn’t have to worry about our safety on campus – especially as we exist in our campus spaces as a community.”
Still, since December, two congressional hearings have been held to specifically look into allegations of anti-Semitism on campus, and the presidents of four top universities have been called in for questioning. Since then, two of those presidents have resigned.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives took new steps to crack down on anti-Semitism on campus.
Passed a bill to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism in civil rights law that could potentially penalize criticism of Israel. Although the bill has not yet been voted on in the Senate, critics fear that any resulting law could be used to withhold funds from universities involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
Facing pressure from lawmakers to crack down on protests, many universities have called on police to disperse protesters, including at Columbia and Yale, two prestigious Ivy League institutions.
However, following the overnight attack at UCLA, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released a statement declaration on Wednesday, condemning the “abhorrent violence” and calling for an independent investigation.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also released a statement saying that those who engaged in illegal actions “must be held accountable,” without specifying that pro-Palestine protesters were the group that was attacked.
Still, Anna urged politicians to do more to support the UCLA protesters and protect their rights to free speech.
“The overwhelming support comes from other students, community members and loved ones,” Anna said. “So far, I have not seen any prominent politician condemn the way we were attacked last night in the same way they condemned Jewish students who felt unsafe because of anti-Zionist activism on campuses.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
