Conflicts break out on the UCLA campus

Clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters broke out at the University of California, Los Angeles campus on Tuesday night, amid ongoing unrest at colleges across the country.

Violence broke out shortly before 11pm local time when a group of counter-protesters arrived at the pro-Palestinian camp set up on campus to try to dismantle it, KTLA reported.

KTLA is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

Counter-protesters threw fireworks and attempted to remove the camp’s metal fence and plywood, resulting in a series of early-morning skirmishes, the outlet added.

“There were some physical altercations between protesters at Royce Quad yesterday,” said Mary Osako, vice chancellor for Strategic Communications at UCLA. said Tuesday. “In response, we have taken several steps to significantly increase our security presence, including adding a greater number of law enforcement, security personnel and student affairs monitors on campus.”

It was not immediately clear how many people may have been injured in the clashes.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass confirmed shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time that officers from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) arrived on campus.

“The violence unfolding tonight at UCLA is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable,” Bass wrote in a post on X.

UCLA campus police also briefly responded to the scene, KTLA reported.

The Hill has reached out to UCLA and the LAPD for further comment.

The clashes come as protests roil university campuses across the country, leading to the arrest and suspension of hundreds of students. Protesters are calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, along with the suspension of US military aid to Israel.

Many of these protests took the form of camps, where dozens of students slept overnight. The camp at UCLA demands that the school divest itself of all Israeli interests, KCLA reported.

Just hours before violence erupted on the California campus, New York City officials moved to the Columbia campus after student protests took over a campus building earlier in the day.

Columbia said the decision to call the NYPD was “made to restore safety and order to our community.”