Clashes erupt on University of California campus in Los AngelesWe are restarting our live coverage of the campus protests in the US, where clashes have broken out in the last few hours between rival protest groups at the University of California campus in Los Angeles. Reports on social media said the violence began when pro-Israel demonstrators started attacking the pro-Palestinian camp in the night.
Tensions had been rising on Tuesday evening, after university administrators declared for the first time that the pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus was illegal.
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LA Times reporter Teresa Watanabe reported that the group who attacked the encampment several hours ago were approximately 200 strong.
Pro-Israel counterprotestors started tearing down @UCLA encampment barriers and screamed “Second nakba!” referring to the mass displacement & dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Per @latimes @safinazzal on the scene with another video: pic.twitter.com/zSplnd1bYO
— Teresa Watanabe (@TeresaWatanabe) May 1, 2024 She said the attackers were shouting “Second nakba!”, a reference to the dispossession of Palestinians from their lands in 1948.
ABC showed footage of LAPD officers moving to disperse the crowd.
They corralled the pro-Israel counter-protesters and moved them away from the encampment.
No arrests appeared to be made immediately, with officers focusing on separating them from the encampment.
Meanwhile, at other US campuses early on Wednesday:
University of ArizonaPolice in the early hours of Wednesday morning told prostesters on campus to disperse as they were an “unlawful assembly”, then asked university police to enforce that ruling.
Police said they deployed “chemical irritant munitions”.
UAlert
Update 5
Police deploying chemical irritant munitions. Follow orders of police and disperse immediately. Avoid the area of University Blvd & Park Ave.
— University of Arizona Police (@UArizonaPolice) May 1, 2024 Tulane UniversityPolice arrested students and several were suspended by the university. Again, the protests has been labelled “unlawful”.
The President, Michael Fitts, wrote in a letter that six arrests and seven suspensions were made.
Katy Yaroslavsky, a member of Los Angeles city council representing district 5, said the clashes were “out of control”.
“Everyone has a right to free speech and protest, but the situation on UCLA’s campus is out of control and is no longer safe. I’m grateful to LAPD and Mayor Bass for stepping in to ensure the safety of everyone on campus,” Yaroslavsky posted on social media.
Everyone has a right to free speech and protest, but the situation on UCLA’s campus is out of control and is no longer safe. I’m grateful to LAPD and Mayor Bass for stepping in to ensure the safety of everyone on campus. t.co/NYLmBI4Pn0
— Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky (@CD5LosAngeles) May 1, 2024 The LA Times reports that the counter-demonstrators who attacked the barricades were wearing black outfits and white masks.
It said that the protesters in the encampment, in helmets and goggles and wielding pieces of wood, attempted to defend the perimeter.
Video footage from Fox News shows the attackers throwing pieces of wood at the encampments and at least one shooting a firework at it. They threw barricade fences and jousted with the encampment protesters.
According to footage from Fox News, a group of men attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment shortly after midnight.
Someone shot a firework at the encampment, which exploded. Others used pepper spray against the protesters, with some of them spraying it in return. The men forcefully tore down the camp while the protesters attempted to repair it.
Several loud explosions were heard to go off, as students screamed.
Fox News reported that campus security were not present on the scene.
The clashes continued for several hours.
The spokesperson for Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, said the university had asked for police to intervene, and that the force would respond.
Statement regarding this evening’s incident at UCLA:
“The Mayor has spoken to Chancellor Block and Chief Choi. LAPD is responding immediately to Chancellor Block’s request for support on campus.”
— Zach Seidl (@ZachSeidlLA) May 1, 2024 Police in riot gear who have arrived on campus have not immediately intervened, according to the Associated Press.
Police in riot gear have arrived at the UCLA campus, according to multiple reports.
According to Reuters, people threw things and shoved and kicked one another. Some armed with sticks beat others. At one point, a group piled on one person who lay on the ground, kicking and beating them until others pulled them out of the scrum.
The clashes took place just outside a tent encampment, where pro-Palestinian protesters erected barricades and plywood for protection — and counter-protesters tried to pull them down. Police vehicles could be seen nearby, but officers did not immediately intervene.
Fireworks were set off and objects thrown in footage shown by KABC.
The clashes began in the early hours of Wednesday shortly after Gene Block, the UCLA Chancellor, said the campus’s pro-Palestinian encampment was “unlawful” and said students who remained in it would face disciplinary action.
Aerial footage from broadcaster KABC, an affiliate of ABC, showed people wielding sticks or poles to attack wooden boards being held up as a makeshift barricade to protect pro-Palestinian protesters, some holding placards or umbrellas, Reuters reports.
‘Horrific violence’ at UCLA – vice-chancellorMary Osako, a vice-chancellor at UCLA, has released an emailed statement on the unrest. “Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” she said “The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”
Clashes erupt on University of California campus in Los AngelesWe are restarting our live coverage of the campus protests in the US, where clashes have broken out in the last few hours between rival protest groups at the University of California campus in Los Angeles. Reports on social media said the violence began when pro-Israel demonstrators started attacking the pro-Palestinian camp in the night.
Tensions had been rising on Tuesday evening, after university administrators declared for the first time that the pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus was illegal.
We’re pausing our live coverage here. If you’d like to read more, the Guardian’s full report on the arrests made at Columbia University can be found here.
SummaryIt’s now 2am in New York – here’s how things stand after police raided the campuses of two universities and arrested a number of protesters.
Hundreds of New York City police officers entered the grounds of Columbia shortly after 9pm to detain and disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who took over Hamilton Hall, a campus building.
A long line of police officers were seen climbing into the occupied building through a second-storey window. Police boarded at least 50 detainees on to buses, each of them with their hands bound behind their backs.
Less than three hours after police entered Columbia, the campus had been cleared of protesters. A police spokesperson said “dozens” of arrests had been made.
New York City police officers use a ramp on an armored vehicle to enter Hamilton Hall. Photograph: Stephani Spindel/EPA A statement released from Columbia said officers arrived on campus after the university requested help. “After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school’s statement said, adding that school public safety personnel were forced out of the building and one facilities worker was “threatened”. The university has requested that police retain a presence on campus until mid-May.
The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters’ defied a 2pm Monday deadline to abandon their camp at Columbia or face suspension. The university promptly began suspending participating students. University officials on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of the students who seized Hamilton Hall.
At an evening news briefing held a few hours before police entered Columbia, New York mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover was instigated by “outside agitators” who lack any affiliation with Columbia and are known to law enforcement for provoking lawlessness. Some Columbia protesters have denied this claim.
A university spokesperson also reiterated the view that the group who “broke into and occupied the building” is being led by individuals who are “not affiliated with the University.”
Officers arrest a student as they evict a building that had been barricaded by pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images Dozens of arrests were also reported at City College of New York where an encampment had been going since Thursday. It’s understood that some students left the Columbia campus when arrets began there and moved north to join the sit-in.
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman has said he is “outraged” by the level of police presence at Columbia and other New York universities. Bowman has called on the Columbia administration to stop the “dangerous escalation before it leads to further harm” and allow faculty back on to campus.
Elsewhere, police cracked down on a pro-Palestine demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early on Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.
More than 1,000 demonstrators, protesting against the conflict in Gaza have been arrested over the past two weeks on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after violent clashes with police in riot gear.
Brown University in Rhode Island reaches agreement with protestersBrown University reached an agreement with students protesting the war in Gaza that would see them remove their encampment from school grounds in exchange for the institution considering divesting from Israel.
In a statement, Brown president Christina Paxson said students had agreed to end their protests, clear their camp and “refrain from further actions that would violate Brown’s conduct code through the end of the academic year.”
In turn, “five students will be invited to meet with five members of the Corporation of Brown University in May to present their arguments to divest Brown’s endowment from ‘companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza’.”
The board will vote on the proposal in October.
Squares mark a lawn where tents once stood after an encampment protesting the Israel-Hamas war was taken down at Brown University. Photograph: David Goldman/AP“We are ending [the encampment] knowing that we made a huge victory for divestment at Brown, for this international movement and a victory for the people of Palestine,” said Brown student Leo Corzo-Clark.
The move represents a first major concession from an American university amid the relentless student protests that have paralysed campuses.
In a letter to New York police requesting assistance on campus, the City College of New York said that protesters had ignored requests and their conduct had interfered with the safety of the campus.
Sharing the request on X, New York police deputy commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the actions of protesters raised serious safety concerns for the university communities.
Let me be abundantly clear. New Yorkers will not stand for lawlessness. Our officers will continue to protect the public with the utmost professionalism.
The @NYPDnews received letters from @CityCollegeNY & @Columbia detailing that protestors’ actions have interfered with the safety and security of their campuses.
The dangerous actions of these individuals raise serious safety concerns for the university communities.
Let me be… pic.twitter.com/ZLFfoxKNCI
— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) May 1, 2024Edward Helmore
A striking feature of New York’s campus protests is how many student-protestors say they are unwilling to talk to the press because they had not been “media-trained.”
Pressed on their reluctance, some protesters at CUNY said the media had been under-reporting and distorting what has been going on, both in regards to the Israel-Hamas war and the international protests against Israel that followed.
“All we’re saying is we’re not happy university tuition fees are being used to fund wars, and we want to see what we can do about it, but without violence,” one protester said.
Others at CUNY were unimpressed by the attitude toward law enforcement.
“They’re also human beings”, said a demonstrator. “They’re following orders. Who do they call when there’s a shooting?”
NYPD deputy commissioner posts video of police tearing down Palestinian flagNew York police deputy commissioner Kaz Daughtry has posted a video to X of officers tearing down a Palestinian flag at City College of New York (CUNY) and raising an American flag in its place.
Earlier, Daughtry confirmed that police were on the CUNY campus after the university asked them to assist in dispersing protesters.
In the post in which he shared the video, Daughtry described the “proud moment” that police restored order and raised “Old Glory” on the campus flagpole.
Police begin arrests at City College of New YorkThe New York Times is reporting that police have arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at City College of New York (CUNY). An NYPD official confirmed that CUNY had requested that police enter the campus to disperse protesters.
Tensions at the university have been rising throughout the evening – and it was understood that some students left the Columbia campus when arrets began there and moved north to join the sit-in at CUNY.
An encampment at the public college, part of the City University of New York system, has been going since Thursday and students had attempted to occupy an academic building earlier on Tuesday.
Images coming in show a large police presence outside the CUNY campus.
Police look on as pro-Palestinian supporters hold demonstrations at The City College Of New York (CUNY). Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images