UCLA: Pro-Palestine student encampment attacked by pro-Israel counter-protesters

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UCLA: Pro-Palestine student encampment attacked by pro-Israel counter-protesters More than 100 Israel supporters attacked pro-Palestine students at UCLA, using sticks, poles and bear spray to remove protest site
MEE staffWed, 05/01/2024 - 09:17
A pro-Israel supporter, with a Star of David tattoo on his hand, can be seen as part of a crowd attempting to destroy the makeshift pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA on 1 May, 2024 (Reuters)
Violence erupted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) late on Tuesday when*a group of*pro-Israel*supporters attacked pro-Palestinian*students with*sticks and poles, and*attempted to destroy their makeshift student encampment.

The violence erupted at around 22:50 local time when the pro-Israel supporters arrived at the encampment and launched fireworks at the pro-Palestine protesters and deployed what appeared to be bear spray, local TV station KTLA reported.

Local media showed the pro-Palestine students covering themselves with umbrellas from the spray. According to KTLA, at least one person was taken away by ambulance for treatment.*

Violence erupted at a pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA when a pro-Israel mob surrounded the encampment late and began attacking the protesters and throwing fireworks into the encampment pic.twitter.com/ksCT8kP5ez

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 1, 2024

Several videos posted on social media appeared to show the pro-Israel supporters wielding sticks and poles, and throwing punches at some of the students at the makeshift encampment after breaking through a barrier.

The*Daily Bruin*reported that around 100 pro-Israel supporters had stormed the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza, while police reportedly stood by and "watched".

Administrators at UCLA had called in police to try to and stem the violence, with Mary Osako, a vice-chancellor at the university, saying: "horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight.




"The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end," she said in a statement.

Writing on X, the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, also condemned the violence, calling it "absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable".


A pro-Palestine student receives medical attention after Israel supporters attacked the student encampment at UCLA on 1 May, 2024 (Reuters)




For over two weeks, UCLA, along with other universities across the US, have been the scene of protests against Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed at least 34,500 Palestinians, most of them children and women.

Student activists are demanding their institutions commit to divestment from Israeli companies and that the US stops bankrolling Israel's bloody campaign.

Israel is currently facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice for its conduct in Gaza, which includes mass bombardment of civilian areas, summary executions and the withdrawal of food and other aid into the territory.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, New York City police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators holed-up in an academic building at Columbia University and removed a protest encampment the Ivy League school had sought to dismantle for nearly two weeks.

Columbia university: Police in riot gear arrest dozens of students, clear pro-Palestine encampment
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Columbia University's president, Minouche Shafik, had requested police help to remove the protesters who had occupied the institution's Hamilton Hall, renaming it after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed by Israel in January.

"With the utmost regret, we request the NYPD’s help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments," Shafik wrote in a letter to the New York Police Department.

According to the letter, Shafik requested that police officers remain on site until 17 May to prevent a resumption of protests.

The university's decision triggered widespread condemnation with*New York City Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat, condemning the police's actions.

"These are students.*In no world should our kids be met with guns when using their constitutional right to peacefully assemble," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Likewise,*Lea Salim, a student at Columbia, described the heavily armed police raid as a stain on Columbia.**




"Tonight, my university called in a militarised police force - armed in riot gear, with guns drawn, deploying weapons banned under international law - to attack teenagers," she told Middle East Eye.

"All because Columbia refuses to divest from the Israeli military and its genocidal campaign on the people of Gaza."


US campus protests





Violence erupts at UCLA as Israel supporters attack pro-Palestine encampment


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