Law enforcement officers massed by the hundreds on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles after darkness fell on Wednesday in preparation to clear out a pro-Palestinian protest camp attacked the night before by pro-Israel supporters.<\/p>\n
Live television footage showed police in tactical gear filing onto the UCLA campus adjacent to a complex of tents occupied by throngs of demonstrators. Some of the activists were seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the raid a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.
\nHundreds of other pro-Palestinian activists assembled outside the tent city jeered police with chants of \u201cShame on you,\u201d some banging on drums and waving Palestinian flags, as officers marched onto the campus grounds. Many of the demonstrators wore the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves.
\nBefore moving in, police with a loudspeaker urged the demonstrators to clear the protest area in a grassy plaza between the landmark twin-tower auditorium Royce Hall and the main undergraduate library.
\nUCLA had canceled classes for the day following a violent clash late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning between the encampment\u2019s occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted an assault on the tent city with sticks and poles.
\nThe occupants of the outdoor protest camp, set up last week, had remained otherwise largely peaceful before the melee, which university officials blamed on \u201cinstigators,\u201d vowing an investigation.
\nWednesday evening\u2019s raid also came a day after police in New York City arrested pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and removed a tent city from the campus of the Ivy League school.
\nPolice arrested a total of about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York, Mayor Eric Adams said. Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.
\nThe clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of U.S. student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.
\nThe protests follow the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
\nStudents have rallied or set up tent encampments at dozens of schools across the U.S. in recent days, expressing opposition to Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and demanding schools divest from companies that support Israel\u2019s government. Many of the schools have called in police to quell the protests.
\n(Reuters)Protest camp. pro-Palestinian protests, police raid, student activism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Law enforcement officers gathered at the University of California at Los Angeles to clear out a pro-Palestinian protest camp that was attacked by pro-Israel supporters the night before. The police were met with jeers and chants from hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists as they moved in to remove the encampment. Similar protests and arrests of pro-Palestinian activists have been reported at other universities across the United States in response to the conflict between Hamas and Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7481,8144,4817,1340,2011,1943,383,4039,3385,5281,6863,1240,8454,7624,33,6432,3671,7747,145,895,415,298,3272,1419,299,5336,4623,5679,4882,1276,185,4086,393,5330,345,184,1157,8118,8644,463,8417,577,2254,6180,7253,8257,433,133,6958,8645,3378,1358,114,8643,544,1001,7850,173,293,6024,6305,18],"class_list":["post-10402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-activism","tag-activists","tag-anticipation","tag-arrested","tag-arrests","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-building","tag-california","tag-charged","tag-clash","tag-clear","tag-columbia","tag-columbia-university","tag-companies","tag-conflict","tag-demonstrators","tag-encampment","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-government","tag-hamas","tag-hamas-militants","tag-investigation","tag-israel","tag-israeli-offensive","tag-jeers","tag-law","tag-law-enforcement","tag-los-angeles","tag-main","tag-mayor","tag-new-york","tag-officers","tag-palestine","tag-police","tag-police-raid","tag-pro-palestinian-protest","tag-pro-palestinian-protests","tag-protest","tag-protest-camp","tag-protests","tag-racism","tag-raid","tag-rallies","tag-response","tag-school","tag-schools","tag-student","tag-student-activism","tag-students","tag-support","tag-top-news","tag-ucla","tag-united-states","tag-universities","tag-university","tag-usa","tag-war","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n