“The encampment would be a peaceful effort were it not for the continuous presence of counter-protestors and agitators,” he wrote in a text message. “While Congress holds more hearings on whether Jewish students feel safe enough on campuses, Jewish students are among those withstanding attacks from Zionist protestors.”
Police said UCLA called them to restore order and maintain public safety “due to multiple acts of violence” within the encampment. Broadcast footage later showed police clearing a central quad beside the encampment and erecting a metal crowd barrier in front of it.
The atmosphere was calmer on Wednesday. Hundreds of police officers and squad cars were on campus and lining its perimeter. It was unclear how many arrests were made or the number of people who were injured.
COLUMBIA DEMONSTRATORS ARRESTED
In New York, police had arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators holed up in a building at Columbia University and removed a protest encampment that the Ivy League college had sought to dismantle for nearly two weeks.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik asked police to stay on campus until at least May 17, two days after graduation.
“Free, free Palestine!” protesters chanted outside the building. “Let the students go!”
“A lot of people are shaken. I think I’m forever changed by what happened today,” said Bo Tang, a history student who has been part of the protesting students’ research group.
“The university fails to learn its own history and repeats its mistakes with such brutishness,” Tang wrote in a text message from the locked-down campus.
