LOS ANGELES – Hundreds of police officers in riot gear swarmed the site of a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on May 2, arresting defiant demonstrators and dismantling their encampment.

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department tore through barricades on one side of the encampment and pulled apart plywood and other materials that protesters had used to build a wall around themselves.

Prior to moving in, police urged demonstrators in repeated loudspeaker announcements to clear out of the protest zone, which occupied a central plaza about the size of a football field.

“If you fail to leave and remain present in the encampment or unauthorised tents or structures, you will be in violation of the law, and those who choose to remain could face sanctions,” UCLA said in an early morning alert before police closed in on the encampment.

After massing around the campus for hours, officers eventually moved through the area in lines, holding batons.

Dozens of loud explosions were heard during the clash from flash-bang charges, or stun grenades, fired by police as they moved into the camp.

The protesters – some carrying makeshift shields and umbrellas – sought to block the officers’ advance by their sheer numbers, while shouting “Push them back!” and flashing bright lights in the eyes of the police.

Some protesters were seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the siege a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.

Hundreds of other pro-Palestinian activists who assembled outside the tent city jeered police with shouts of “Shame on you!”. Some were banging on drums and waving Palestinian flags as officers marched onto the campus grounds. Many wore traditional Palestinian scarves called keffiyehs.

A much smaller group of demonstrators waving Israeli flags urged the police to shut down the encampment, yelling “hey hey, ho-ho, the occupation has got to go!”.

Live television footage showed officers taking down tents and removing the encampment, while arrested protesters sat with their hands restrained behind their backs with zip-ties.

Violent clash precedes crackdown

The pre-dawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint over mounting tensions on US campuses, where protests over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza have led to student clashes with one another and law enforcement.

UCLA cancelled classes for the day following a violent clash between the encampment’s occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted a surprise assault late in the evening on April 30 on the tent city.

The occupants of the outdoor protest camp, set up last week, had remained otherwise peaceful before the melee, in which both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray.

Members of the pro-Palestinian group said fireworks were thrown at them, and they were beaten with bats and sticks. University officials blamed the disturbance on “instigators” and vowed an investigation.

The confrontation went on for two or three hours into the early morning of May 1 before police restored order.

US President Joe Biden said on May 2 that freedom of speech and the rule of law must be respected in protests at college campuses over the war in Gaza.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people and squash dissent,” Mr Biden said in remarks at the White House. “But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society. And order must prevail.”

As the much-expanded police force entered the campus on the evening of May 1 to clear the encampment, some of the protesters were heard yelling at them: “Where were you yesterday?”

UCLA officials said the campus, which enrols nearly 52,000 students, including undergraduates and graduate scholars, would remain shuttered except for limited operations on May 2 and 3.

The police action on the evening of May 1 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.

Police 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.

The clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of US student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.

Some 90 pro-Palestinian demonstrators – students and outsiders – were arrested at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire on May 1, the Hanover Police Department said. They were charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest.

The 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.

Students have rallied or set up tent encampments at dozens of schools across the US in recent days, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and demanding schools divest from companies that support Israel’s government. Many of the schools have called in police to quell the protests.

The demonstrations across the US have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred.

The pro-Palestinian side, including Jews opposed to Israeli actions in Gaza, say they are being unfairly branded as anti-Semitic for criticising Israel’s government and expressing support for human rights.

The issue has taken on political overtones in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic rhetoric and harassment. REUTERS