Riot cops smash by UCLA barricades after being compelled to RETREAT

Riot cops supported by busloads of reinforcements have smashed through barricades at UCLA’s Gaza encampment after a smaller group of police was forced to retreat by pro-Palestine protesters.

LAPD officers who had been trying to hold a skirmish line dispersed earlier as they were pushed back by a wave of protesters, who far outnumbered police and were holding umbrellas and makeshift shields.

Soon after, hundreds of CHP officers were bussed to the campus as backup, cramming into a small walkway as they again attempted to breach the wall of people trying to prevent them from entering the encampment.

Hundreds of protesters, many brandishing umbrellas, shields and wearing helmets, continued to resist the police advance into the quad area on the west side of Royce Hall, attempting to push them back as they had done before.

But a huge stream of officers, armed with batons and equipped with riot gear, cleared away makeshift barricades made out of dumpsters and wooden boards as they marched on the camp. 

As the confrontation began on the west of Royce Hall, another busload of officers was brought in and circled around the east side of the hall, escorting surrendering students away and starting to rip down fortifications.

Within minutes, police were able to tear down the perimeter barrier, launching flash bangs into the air. Protesters are reported to be using pepper or bear spray and fire extinguishers as they continue to resist law enforcement dispersal orders. 

Dramatic footage from the ground and from a helicopter circling above shows the moment crowds swelled and converged on dozens of officers, appearing to push towards them in an effort to eject them from the area.

Shortly after, a line of cops filed out of the Janss Steps, an inner area of the encampment dubbed the ‘Liberated Zone’ by campaigners, with cheers from the crowd as they allowed officers to exit. Police are still present in the wider campus.

There have been reports that students are hoping to re-barricade after the police breached their defenses. It is the second night in a row that confrontations between police and protesters on the California campus turned physical.

It comes as police are cracking down on encampments at campuses across America, with at least 90 people arrested at Ivy League Dartmouth College in Rhode Island.

Arrests were also made at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. At Wisconsin, more than 34 were arrested and some cops were hurt in clashes. 

New York City continued to see it’s share of protests as well, as police broke up protests at Fordham a day after ending encampments at Columbia and the City College of New York. Officers arrested at least 15 Fordham protesters Wednesday. 

The Gaza solidarity protestors wore helmets and fortified their barricades as they prepared for clashes as LAPD flooded the UCLA campus Wednesday night. 

A large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps outside the barricaded area of tents, sitting as they listened and applauded various speakers and joined in pro-Palestinian chants. 

As day turned to night, LAPD officers dressed in riot gear poured into the campus, making their way up the stairs to where the encampment is based. 

Videos shared on social media showed students fortifying their barricades as they prepared for confrontations with police. Some chanted ‘shame on you!’ and ‘LAPD KKK!’ 

Overheard television cameras at UCLA showed students in the barricaded area passing out goggles and helmets, as well as setting up medical aid stations.

A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people gathered nearby.

The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. 

Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, and no one was arrested. 

At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.

Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

‘We need to take a stand for it,’ he said. ‘Enough is enough.’

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that ‘a group of instigators’ perpetrated the previous night’s attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.

‘However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,’ he said. ‘It has shaken our campus to its core.’

Block promised a review of the night’s events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor denounced the delays.

‘The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,’ Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus later Wednesday, where some Muslim students detailed the overnight events.

Speakers disputed the university´s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. 

One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.

Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. 

UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. 

The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.

In Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday 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. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.

This is all playing out in an election year in the U.S., raising questions about whether young voters – who are critical for Democrats – will back President Joe Biden’s reelection effort, given his staunch support of Israel.

In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.

At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October – apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel´s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. 

Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel´s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. 

Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

Late Tuesday, New York City police officers entered Columbia’s campus and cleared an encampment, along with Hamilton Hall, where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window, and police said protesters inside presented no substantial resistance.

The demonstrators had seized the Ivy League school building about 20 hours earlier, ramping up their presence on the campus from a tent encampment that had been there for nearly two weeks.

They encountered police clearing tents early on, as well as more than 100 arrests and threats of suspension unless they abandoned the encampment Monday. Instead, protesters took over Hamilton Hall early Tuesday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed ‘outside agitators’ on Wednesday for leading the demonstrations and repeatedly cited the presence of a woman on Columbia´s campus whose husband Adams said had been ‘convicted for terrorism.’ 

The woman, Nahla Al-Arian, wasn´t on Columbia´s campus this week and isn´t among the protesters who were arrested.