Clashes broke out between pro-Palestinian activists and counter-activists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus late on Tuesday night and continued into the early morning hours on Wednesday.
In his Tuesday statement, Mr. Block reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment was not authorized. He said barriers that demonstrators used to block access to buildings had been removed and UCLA has “significantly increased” the security presence near the encampment, located on the Dickson Plaza outside the Royce Hall building.
Security Response to UCLA Clash
UCLA Police Department Chief John Thomas told Daily Bruin that two University of California Police Department (UCPD) cars and one UCLA EMT initially arrived at the scene of the campus brawl at 11:13 p.m., around 20 minutes after the fighting began. Mr. Thomas told the student newspaper that the first responders left by 11:21 p.m. after they came under attack while trying to assist an individual.The UCLA police chief said only five or six campus police officers were on duty when the fighting began.
UCLA Vice Chancellor for Communications Mary Osako reportedly emailed Daily Bruin at around 12:40 a.m.—nearly two hours into the clash—with a statement condemning the violence.
“Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight,” Ms. Osako’s statement read. “The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”
At around 2 a.m. local time, the LAPD announced its officers had arrived to assist campus police in dealing with the fighting.
NTD News contacted LAPD’s press office for more details about its response timeline, but a press officer declined to provide additional details.
“At around 5 p.m. yesterday, Chancellor Gene Block sent an email to the UCLA student body claiming that security presence in the area had been increased,” the Daily Bruin’s editorial team wrote. “That was not visible in the midst of escalating violence. And even with the security present, there was no mediation far into the night.”
Campus Protests, Clashes Continue Nationwide
The pro-Palestinian activist encampment is one of several that have popped up on college campuses across the United States, amid ongoing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.The Israeli military operations in Gaza began after Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza–Israel barrier on Oct. 7, 2023, and proceeded to carry out attacks across southern Israel. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed and thousands more were injured in the course of the attacks. About 240 Israelis were taken hostage, about half of whom remain in Gaza.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has reported at least 34,568 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory in the nearly seven months since the fighting began. The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in its casualty assessments, and the numbers cannot be independently verified.
Several pro-Palestinian activist movements across U.S. college campuses have called for their respective colleges to part from financial and business ties with Israeli entities.
Activists who took over the Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York earlier this week listed the school’s divestment from Israel as one of their core demands.
Complaints have emerged of harassment and assaults targeting Jewish and Israeli students and faculty amid the campus protests.
