UCLA Pro-Palestinian Protest: More Than 200 Arrested, Encampment Removed By Police

The Pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the campus of UCLA was removed in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, with police coming in and arrested hundreds of protestors, while more than 300 others voluntarily left.

Until Thursday morning, UCLA had one of the largest protest groups and encampments in the country. For weeks, the UCLA protest group had been allowed to grow, as they had not taken more drastic action that would have required more police on campus, including having police storm and take back buildings at Cal Poly Humboldt and Columbia in New York. They also avoided any in-building encampments at all, such as those currently going on at CSU Sacramento and Portland State in Oregon.

What UCLA was known for was protestors from different sides often clashing. On Sunday, Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israeli protestors got into a scuffle until broken up. Things quickly heated up, with an even worse fight between protestors on late Tuesday and early Wednesday resulting in over a dozens injuries and hospitalizations. With the protest encampment now seen as violent and a disruption by both the campus and Los Angeles law enforcement organizations, it was deemed unsafe late on Wednesday. Police, who had been villainized early in the week by protestors but later deemed a necessity by them on Wednesday when their group had been fighting with other protestors, soon gathered en masse.

This led to dispersal orders late on Wednesday and early on Thursday, with police ready to go in and remove the encampment as it was now called an unlawful assembly. With many not budging, and with the protestors given several hours to leave, both the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) went in at 3 A.M. on Thursday.  Police quickly deconstructed the barrier around the encampment, rushing in. Some protestors resisted cops, with many shining bright flashlights in their eyes. However the law enforcement groups, armed with tear gas, quickly took control of the situation.

Many were arrested for unlawfully assembling. An early announcement by the CHP on Thursday said that 132 had been arrested, but later figures by both the CHP and LAPD indicated that over 200 protestors had been arrested. Around 300 others quickly dispersed as the police came in. Graffiti, garbage, tents, and random supplies were left behind by protestors, with some police even calling the area after the takeover a “warzone.”

UCLA retaken by LAPD, CHP officers

As the area was cleaned up throughout Thursday, campus officials condemned the protestors for escalating their efforts to the point that police had to be called in.

“Our approach to the encampment that was established on Royce Quad last week has been guided by several equally important principles: the need to support the safety and wellbeing of Bruins, the need to support the free expression rights of our community, and the need to minimize disruption to our teaching and learning mission,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in a statement on Thursday.

“We approached the encampment with the goal of maximizing our community members’ ability to make their voices heard on an urgent global issue. We had allowed it to remain in place so long as it did not jeopardize Bruins’ safety or harm our ability to carry out our mission.

“But while many of the protesters at the encampment remained peaceful, ultimately, the site became a focal point for serious violence as well as a huge disruption to our campus. Several days of violent clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators put too many Bruins in harm’s way and created an environment that was completely unsafe for learning. Demonstrators directly interfered with instruction by blocking students’ pathways to classrooms. Indirectly, violence related to the encampment led to the closure of academic buildings and the cancellation of classes. And frankly, hostilities were only continuing to escalate.

“In the end, the encampment on Royce Quad was both unlawful and a breach of policy. It led to unsafe conditions on our campus and it damaged our ability to carry out our mission. It needed to come to an end. Over the past several days, we communicated with and made a formal request to meet with demonstration leaders to discuss options for a peaceful and voluntary disbanding of the encampment. Unfortunately, that meeting did not lead to an agreement.

“To preserve campus safety and the continuity of our mission, early this morning, we made the decision to direct UCPD and outside law enforcement officers to enter and clear the encampment. Officers followed a plan that had been carefully developed to protect the safety of protesters at the site. Those who remained encamped last night were given several warnings and were offered the opportunity to leave peacefully with their belongings before officers entered the area. Ultimately, about 300 protesters voluntarily left, while more than 200 resisted orders to disperse and were arrested.

“UCLA facilities teams are now in the process of taking down structures and cleaning up the quad, and we ask that students, staff and faculty continue to avoid the area. I want to be clear that we fully support the right of our community members to protest peacefully, and there are longstanding and robust processes in place that allow students, faculty and staff to gather and demonstrate in ways that do not violate the law or our policies.

“The past week has been among the most painful periods our UCLA community has ever experienced. It has fractured our sense of togetherness and frayed our bonds of trust, and will surely leave a scar on the campus.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also walked a fine line between blaming protestors and encouraging them, saying, “Every student deserves to be safe and live peacefully on their campus. Harassment, vandalism and violence have no place at UCLA or anywhere in our city. My office will continue to coordinate closely with local and state law enforcement, area universities and community leaders to keep campuses safe and peaceful.”

Every student deserves to be safe and live peacefully on their campus.

Harassment, vandalism and violence have no place at UCLA or anywhere in our city.

My office will continue to coordinate closely with local and state law enforcement, area universities and community leaders…

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) May 2, 2024

Meanwhile, at UCLA, classes were announced to be remote for both Thursday and Friday for the University to ensure safety. The University also spent all of Thursday cleaning up the encampment area.

“The Palestinian protestors were just pigs to leave it the way they did,” said Rachel Diaz, a UC student. “Initially a lot of us were for them, but then they started getting into fights. And when I walked past the quad today where everyone was cleaning up, there was graffiti that said ‘F Jews’. Things like that, they really pull support away from you.”

“Most of us just want to study and take final exams. We just want a regular campus again. These idiots denied us that. I hope they’re all expelled.”

Researcher Sandy Crane, who studies college protest movements, also told the Globe on Thursday, “We knew that was going to happen at UCLA, but not that fast. The University had been very hesitant on action, but those fights broke the camels back.”

“Universities, police, and just regular people are getting fed up with these protests and what they are doing, and you can tell that they are mad as hell and won’t take it anymore. Expect to see more and more universities getting police to come in and stop encampments, building takeovers, and just large-scale protests in general. The protestors have proven that they are not peaceful, and universities are prepared to let them get arrested, suspend them, and even expel them for what they have been doing. They’re not taking it anymore, even at historically protest-heavy universities.”

Police are expected to be called on other protests in California and around the nation soon.