UCLA protesters told to disperse or face arrest
Announcements broadcast at protesters on the UCLA campus told demonstrators to disperse or they would be arrested and face a misdemeanor charge. The protesters largely stayed in place, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans.
Hundreds of supporters of the pro-Palestinian protesters, including students and alumni, have remained on campus steps beyond the encampment as the law enforcement presence has grown.
The order to disperse comes less than 24 hours after a masked group surrounded the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing fireworks and violently attacking students.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
According to the Associated Press, metal and wooden barriers had been restored around the tent encampment after the scuffle overnight, while overhead TV cameras showed people within the enclosure distributing goggles, helmets and other gear as well as medical assistance tents that had been set up later in the day.
Key events
It’s almost 8.30pm in LA and police in riot gear are reportedly forming lines and moving in closer to the protest encampment at UCLA.
Matthew Lewis Royer, a journalists with UCLA’s student newspaper, posted the below image of the situation on campus now.
A large number of police in riot gear are now arriving at the UCLA campus, according to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin who is at the scene.
He posted a video of students watching as police made their way onto campus.
BREAKING: Per LAPD source, LAPD has just gone into a citywide tactical alert as tension builds at UCLA campus. Larger numbers of LAPD in riot gear now arriving on campus near the encampment. pic.twitter.com/cjLlS0iofH
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 2, 2024
Despite the warning to disperse or face arrest, protests at UCLA only appear to have grown throughout the afternoon.
Protesters largely stayed in place, according to an AP reporter, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans. Police stood by strapping on riot gear.
UCLA posted on X that campus operations will be limited Thursday and Friday with all classes required to pivot to remote instruction. The post urged people to continue avoiding campus and the Royce Quad area.
As Los Angeles County Sheriff’s marshalled near the protest encampments, some people prayed in front of where they gathered.
UCLA protesters told to disperse or face arrest
Announcements broadcast at protesters on the UCLA campus told demonstrators to disperse or they would be arrested and face a misdemeanor charge. The protesters largely stayed in place, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans.
Hundreds of supporters of the pro-Palestinian protesters, including students and alumni, have remained on campus steps beyond the encampment as the law enforcement presence has grown.
The order to disperse comes less than 24 hours after a masked group surrounded the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing fireworks and violently attacking students.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
According to the Associated Press, metal and wooden barriers had been restored around the tent encampment after the scuffle overnight, while overhead TV cameras showed people within the enclosure distributing goggles, helmets and other gear as well as medical assistance tents that had been set up later in the day.
University police reportedly tell UCLA protesters to disperse
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin is at the protest at UCLA and is reporting that university police have announced that the encampment is unlawful and everyone must leave the area.
The police have reportedly said that those who don’t will be subject to arrest.
BREAKING: UCLA police just declared on a loudspeaker that the UCLA encampment is unlawful and that everyone must leave the area. They say that those who do not leave may be subject to arrest. Encampment cheered. We continue to see a large amount of law enforcement gathering. pic.twitter.com/ZufyCgr96D
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 2, 2024
In the last few hours, many more people have arrived at the UCLA protests to support demonstrators there.
At the same Wisconsin campaign rally, Donald Trump accused Joe Biden of failing to speak up on the campus protests.
There’s a big fever in our country, and he’s not talking.”
The US president has so far avoided speaking out on the protests, so far only publicly addressing the demonstrations once.
“I condemn the anti-Semitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that,” Biden said last week in response to a journalist’s question. “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday condemned “a small percentage of students” who have been disruptive after a night of clashes and arrests on several campuses.
Students have the right to feel safe. They have the right to learn … to do this without disruption. And they have a right to feel safe on campus. We are going to be really forceful here and continue to underscore how anti-Semitism is hateful speech.”
She also acknowledged the war in Gaza was “painful” and assured that Biden supported the right to peaceful protest.
Donald Trump praises police response to New York campus protests and condemns demonstrators
Donald Trump has described the sight of New York police officers raiding a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian students as “a beautiful thing to watch”.
“New York was under siege last night,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, praising the police officers for arresting about 300 protesters at Columbia and City College of New York who he referred to as “raging lunatics and Hamas sympathisers.”
I say remove the encampments immediately, vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students who want a safe place from which to learn.”
Police reportedly poised to dismantle UCLA protests
Less than 24 hours after the violent scenes at UCLA, local media are reporting that police are preparing to break-up the protest encampment on the campus.
The LA Times reports that a large number of police – including some in riot gear – are marshalling close to student tents.
Protesters are reportedly linking arms to prevent police from reaching their encampment.
Less than 24 hours after the violence at UCLA, hundreds of people have joined the protest encampment their, in support of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Local media have reported that supporters have been bringing supplies to the camp throughout the day.
Earlier on Wednesday, protesters clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
A scrum broke out after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said.
More tents sprang up within hours. More than 30 people were initially detained, but police said only four were charged with battering law enforcement.
Edward Helmore
New York’s pro-Palestine movement reassembled across four different locations on Wednesday evening, creating a headache for police who had only 24 hours earlier broken up sit-in at two of its largest private and public colleges.
At a joint Columbia and City universities gathering at the CUNY campus in Harlem, several hundred protesters gathered to decry what they called the NYPD’s violent interventions.
“Last night we were assaulted without warning multiple times by multiple waves of cops in riot gear, 13 hours before an administration deadline to clear the encampment,” said Maia, a student at CUNY.
It was terrifying and completely disproportionate, and a shocking display of force.”
Cameron Jones, lead organiser of the Columbia/Barnard branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, told the crowd that the NYPD action had not dulled the movement’s determination.
He said the “systematic disregard for Palestinian lives” in Gaza had warranted students’ peaceful occupation of the campus, but university administrators and police had turned that too, “into a war zone.”
Another speaker, who offered her name as Fatima, told the protestors that the goal remained “the complete divestment” of Columbia’s endowment fund from any business organisation benefitting from Israel’s war in Gaza.
We’re here to remind students all over the globe that we are stronger than they are.”
UCLA police say campus leadership “owns the results of their decisions”
The Federated University Police Officers’ Association (FUPOA), which represents officers within the University of California Police Department System, has issued a statement on the violence at UCLA, saying “campus leadership, not law enforcement, owns the results of their decisions.”
University police have come under criticism for the speed of their response to the violence at UCLA overnight.
A spokesperson for California governor Gavin Newsom said outside law enforcement was sent to the campus after “unacceptable” delays in the university’s police force response to the clashes.
In it’s statement, FUPOA said its officers are obligated to follow the direction of the leadership of the various campuses and said they welcomed an upcoming probe into the “university’s planning, its actions and the response by law enforcement.”
It’s paramount to recognize that when protests erupt on campus, the decisions regarding the response of the UC Police rest firmly in the hands of campus leadership. They shoulder the accountability for the outcomes stemming from these decisions, not the UC Police Department. It underscores the crucial distinction between operational execution and strategic direction.
Police arrest 17 on University of Texas in Dallas campus
The University of Texas in Dallas has confirmed that 17 protesters were arrested on its campus, after police moved in at the request of university officials.
According to local media, the police operation involved dozens of state troopers in riot gear.
The entire encampment was dismantled within about 20 minutes and additional law enforcement remained on the campus until about 6pm.
Around 100 protesters are reportedly continuing demonstrations on another part of the campus.