LOS ANGELES (AP) — At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA on Thursday, bringing the total nationwide arrests to more than 2,000 on dozens of college campuses since police broke up an encampment at the University of Columbia in mid-April, according to an Associated Press count.
Demonstrations—and arrests—have occurred in nearly every corner of the nation. But in the past 24 hours, almost all attention has been directed to the University of California, Los Angeles, where there were chaotic scenes Thursday morning when police in riot gear charged into a group of protesters.
Police removed barricades and began dismantling a fortified encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters on the UCLA campus after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave; some of them formed human chains while the police threw stun grenades to break up the groups.
At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA, said Sergeant Alejandro Rubio of the California Highway Patrol. He added that the arrested people were taken to the county jail complex near downtown Los Angeles. UCLA police will determine whether to file charges.
A group of workers entered the camp site Thursday morning and began extensive cleanup. Several excavators were collecting bags of garbage and dismantled tents. Some buildings were covered in graffiti.
The arrests came after officers spoke for hours into megaphones, threatening to arrest those who did not disperse. More than 1,000 people gathered on campus, including inside a tent encampment surrounded by barricades. Protesters and police jostled and clashed when authorities encountered resistance. Several videos show police detaining protesters and removing their helmets and goggles.
Police helicopters could be heard flying over the area and the explosion of stun grenades, which produce a flash of light and a loud noise to disorient and stun people, while the police advanced and people chanted “Where were you last night?” On Tuesday afternoon, counterprotesters attacked the encampment, and it took hours for the UCLA administration and campus police to respond.
Camps of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or with companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread to campuses across the country in a student movement like no other this century. The ensuing police interventions echoed actions taken decades ago against a much broader protest movement against the Vietnam War.
Demonstrations and arrests have occurred in almost every corner of the nation. At least 1,945 people have been arrested since protests began at Columbia University in New York on April 18.
Among them is an Illinois university professor who said he suffered several broken ribs and a hand during a pro-Palestinian protest Saturday at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
A video taken by a bystander shows the arrest of Steve Tamari, a history professor at Edwardsville Southern Illinois University. He appeared to be approaching to take video or photos of the detained protesters when several officers roughly tackled him.
Tamari said in a statement Thursday that it was “a small price to pay for the genocide that Israel is carrying out in Gaza.”
Officials at Stony Book University of New York on Long Island said 29 people were detained early Thursday, including students, faculty members and others “outside our campus community.” In New York City, Fordham University officials said 15 people were arrested after forcing their way into the lobby of a building on the school’s Lincoln Center campus.
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2024-05-04 22:17:30
