LOS ANGELES – Police in riot gear gathered on the UCLA campus and ordered a large group of pro-Palestinian protesters inside a fortified camp to leave the area or face arrest Wednesday night, a night after violence instigated by counterprotesters hatched in the same location.
A small town emerged inside the barricaded camp, filled with hundreds of people and tents in the campus courtyard. Some protesters offered Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we are not leaving” or handed out protective goggles and surgical masks. They wore helmets and headscarves and discussed the best ways to deal with pepper spray or tear gas while someone sang into a megaphone.
Some built homemade shields out of plywood in case they clashed with police by forming skirmish lines elsewhere on campus. “For rubber bullets, who wants a shield?” shouted one protester.
Meanwhile, a large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on the campus steps outside the tents, sitting as they listened to and applauded various speakers and joined in pro-Palestine chants. A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and the Jewish people demonstrated nearby.
The presence of authorities and continued warnings contrasted with the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-protesters attacked the pro-Palestinian camp, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police intervened, although no arrests were made. At least 15 protesters were injured and authorities’ tepid response drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday night to support the pro-Palestinian protesters.
“We need to take a stand on this,” he said. “That’s enough.”
Elsewhere, New Hampshire police made arrests and dismantled tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon raided the Portland State University campus as school officials tried to break up the library occupation that began on Monday.
The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police stormed a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that brought the school to a standstill.
An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the US. More than 1,600 people were arrested in 30 schools.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” carried out the attack the night before, but did not provide details about the mob or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
“Whatever your opinion of the camp, this attack on our students, teachers and community members was completely unacceptable,” he said. “This shook our campus to its core.”
Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the delays.
The head of the University of California system, Michael Drake, ordered an “independent review of the university’s planning, its actions and the response of law enforcement authorities.”
“The community needs to feel that the police are protecting them, not allowing others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said at a press conference on the Los Angeles campus on Wednesday, where some students Muslims detailed the night’s events.
Speakers disputed the university’s report that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head with an object wielded by counter-protesters.
Several students who spoke during the press conference said they had to rely on each other, rather than the police, for support while they were being attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestine camp remained peaceful and did not get involved with the counter- protesters. UCLA canceled classes on Wednesday.
Tent camps of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or with companies that say they support the war in Gaza have spread to campuses across the country in a student movement unlike any other this century. The police crackdowns that followed reflected decades-old actions against a much larger protest movement against the Vietnam War.
In Madison, a riot broke out Wednesday morning after police with shields removed all but one of the tents and pushed back protesters. Four police officers were injured, including a state trooper who was struck in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were accused of assaulting law enforcement officers.
All of this unfolds in an election year in the US, raising questions about whether young voters – who are critical of the Democrats – will support President Joe Biden’s re-election effort, given his staunch support for Israel.
In rare cases, university officials and protest leaders have reached agreements to restrict disruption of campus life and upcoming graduation ceremonies.
At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.
National campus demonstrations began in Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7. Militants killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took around 250 hostages. Promising to eradicate Hamas, Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Ministry of Health.
Israel and its supporters have called the university protests anti-Semitic, while Israel’s critics say the country uses such allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Meanwhile, protest camps elsewhere have been cleared by police, resulting in arrests, or voluntarily closed at schools across the U.S., including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff , Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.
___
Offenhartz and Frederick reported from New York. Associated Press journalists from around the country contributed to this report, including John Antczak, Christopher L. Keller, Lisa Baumann, Cedar Attanasio, Jonathan Mattise, Stefanie Dazio, Jae C. Hong, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews, Sarah Brumfield, Carolyn Thompson , Philip Marcelo, Corey Williams and Felícia Fonseca.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
