Pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA tussle with Israel supporters
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[April 29, 2024]
By David Swanson and Rich McKay
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Protests at U.S. universities showed no sign of
slowing over the weekend, with more arrests on campuses across the
country and skirmishes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian
demonstrators at UCLA, where a tent encampment was set up last week.
As the size of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of
California at Los Angeles expanded in recent days, counter-protesters
have become increasingly vocal and visible on the campus, although both
sides remained peaceful until Sunday.
That changed when some demonstrators broke through a barrier that the
school had set up to separate the two factions, Mary Osako, UCLA's vice
chancellor for UCLA strategic communications, said.
Members of both factions shoved one another and shouted slogans and
insults, and in some cases traded punches. Pushing and shoving persisted
for some time among pockets of demonstrators, but campus police armed
with batons eventually separated the sparring groups.
"UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we
are heartbroken about the violence that broke out," Osako said in a
statement.
Chanting had ceased by around 3:30 p.m. local time and pro-Palestinian
protesters trickled back to the encampment, according to the Reuters
photographer at the scene.
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Los Angeles police were not involved in quelling the disturbance, a
representative of the campus police said, and no arrests had been made.
The dueling demonstrations on the UCLA campus involved at least some
people from outside the university, according to an earlier statement by
the university, which said it had allowed two groups on campus to
express their views.
Members of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice planned to
support the right of students to protest, according to the statement,
while Stand in Support of Jewish Students, in partnership with
Israeli-American Council, planned to oppose hatred and antisemitism on
campus.
NATIONWIDE PROTESTS
In the past two weeks, pro-Palestinian protests have spread to college
campuses across the U.S., triggered by the mass arrest of over 100
people at Columbia University more than a week ago.
Since then, hundreds of protesters from California and Texas to Atlanta
and Boston have been arrested as they emulated the encampments used by
Columbia students to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Administrators, including those of Columbia, have said the protests, as
unauthorized, break school rules, disrupt learning and have fostered
harassment and antisemitism.
Protesters are demanding a ceasefire in the war with Hamas and the
divestment of university assets in companies involved with the Israeli
military, and an end to U.S. military assistance to Israel.
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![](../images/042924PIX/news_h14.jpg)
A protester in support of Palestinians in Gaza and a pro-Israel
counter-protester confront each other, during demonstrations amid
the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist
group Hamas, at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in
Los Angeles, California, U.S. April 28, 2024. REUTERS/David Swanson
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Apr/29/images/ads/current/graue_lda_SPEEDWAY_041724.png)
Student leaders have acknowledged that isolated incidents of
antisemitism and harassment have occurred but blame outsiders they
say have sought to hijack their movement.
The Columbia campus was peaceful on Saturday, a school spokesman
said, but crackdowns took place at a handful of other campuses.
More than 200 people were arrested at a handful of schools,
including Washington University in St. Louis, where 2024 Green Party
presidential candidate Jill Stein.
"They are sending in the riot police and basically creating a riot
in an otherwise peaceful demonstration. So this is just shameful,"
Stein said in a statement.
Washington University said in a statement that those arrested would
face trespassing charges.
'STRONG FEELINGS'
The nationwide protests have caught the attention of President Joe
Biden. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on
ABC News on Sunday the president acknowledges that many Americans
have strong feelings about the war in Gaza.
"He respects that and as he has said many times, we certainly
respect the right of peaceful protest," Kirby said. "People should
have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives
publicly, but it has to be peaceful."
At the same time, Kirby said, the president condemns antisemitism
and condemns hate speech.
At USC, the administration last week canceled the main commencement
ceremony after a decision to call off the valedictorian speech by a
Muslim student, who responded by saying she was being silenced by
anti-Palestinian hatred.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on Sunday she believed that
cancelling the commencement, with 65,000 people expected to attend,
was a decision that USC "had to make."
"They just did not feel that it was going to be safe," Bass said on
CNN's "State of the Union."
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and David Swanson in Los
Angeles; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Maria
Caspani in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty, Matthew Lewis and
Diane Craft)
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