Members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) clashed with protesters on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after a second pro-Palestinian camp emerged.
Videos and photos shared online showed groups of protesters forming a line to block members of the LAPD. The police wore helmets and batons and pushed protesters with batons and their hands.
According to ABC 7 reporter Josh Haskell, UCLA police entered the camp after breaking a lock holding the barriers together. LAPD handled 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 protesters by the afternoon. Police, dressed in riot gear, pushed back the crowd and destroyed the camp, the Los Angeles Times reported.
It is not known if any arrests have been made or if there have been any reports of injuries, but a graduate student told the Times it is a “very tense and violent environment.”
The academic workers union announced Thursday that its ongoing strike over working conditions would expand to the campuses of UCLA and the University of California, Davis. Union members say their free speech rights were violated when universities had police forcibly remove pro-Palestinian camps, the media outlet reported.
The clash follows a similar incident in late April. Counter-protesters attempted to break through barriers erected by the university to separate pro-Israel protesters and pro-Palestine protesters, resulting in physical altercations.
Police dismantled the camp on April 30 and there were about 200 arrests, the Associated Press reported.
The university released a statement denouncing the April incident, saying it was “heartbroken” by the outbreak of violence, as the school has a “long history” of being a place where people can peacefully protest.
A UCLA police chief was also temporarily reassigned following the violent interaction. The school said John Thomas has been temporarily reassigned while the university reviews its security processes.
UCLA is one of many schools across the country holding pro-Palestinian protests, denouncing the United States’ role in the Israel-Hamas war and calling on its schools to divest from Israeli companies or companies that supply weapons to Israel.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
