Members of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups in Los Angeles sometimes tussled, with reports that protesters used fireworks and pepper spray. It was hours before police restored calm.
Violence erupted at the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday night, after pro-Israel demonstrators attempted to forcibly dismantle an encampment of dozens of tents set up by pro-Palestinian protesters who have been camping on the school’s Dickson Plaza, a central green space on campus.
Protesters in the encampment sometimes fought with the counterprotesters, which witnesses say ranged from about 100 to more than 200. People set off fireworks — and journalists and protest organizers say pepper spray or other irritants were used — before police were able to get the situation under control.
„The violence unfolding this evening at UCLA is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable,“ Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, at 1:47 a.m. local time. „LAPD has arrived on campus.“
The confrontation quickly became a flashpoint among dozens of university protests against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that have broken out on campuses across the U.S. A high-profile protest at Columbia University in New York was shut down Tuesday night after police entered a school building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters.
UCLA has canceled classes on Wednesday.School newspaper calls out delay in calming violence
As news of the violence spread, so did questions about why administrators and police weren’t able to prevent it, or mitigate it more quickly.
Hours before the confrontation, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block issued a statement saying his administration had „taken several immediate actions,“ including significantly boosting security by „adding greater numbers of law enforcement officers, safety personnel and student affairs mitigators.
