Pro-Israel Group Assaults Anti-War Protestors in UCLA, Police Arrives Late

At the University of California, Los Angeles, a group of masked supporters of Israel attacked students who supported Palestine before police were sent to the scene.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s spokeswoman called the police’s slow and restricted response “unacceptable.”

More than two hours of violence they ensued on Wednesday morning, prompting hundreds of police to flood the campus.

Fighting broke out on Tuesday night shortly before midnight. University authorities said they sent security forces to Dickson Plaza as soon as they were made aware of the clash. However, several witnesses at the scene complained that authorities moved too slowly.

According to UC Divest at LA, one of the encampment’s participating groups, the police stood at the lawn’s edge and did nothing, even when we yelled for their assistance.

The BBC has contacted UCLA and the Los Angeles Police Department to get a reaction.

On Tuesday, the university deemed the pro-Palestinian camp an unlawful assembly since it was located underneath its Royce Hall.

According to footage posted online, a sizable pro-Israeli mob dressed in black and white masked individuals showed out on campus just before midnight on Tuesday and tried to tear down obstacles. A group of campers, some with protective gear like goggles and helmets and others with signs and umbrellas, came together to protect their temporary home.

The counter-demonstrators threw items such as water bottles, tear gas, pyrotechnics, and a scooter, according to Dylan Winward of the Daily Bruin student newspaper.

The Bruin also reported on social media that assailants had sprayed an irritant and attacked four of its reporters early on Wednesday morning. The assailants had videotaped the event on their phones.

Activists are urging colleges and universities in more than twenty states to sever financial links with Israel and businesses benefiting from the conflict in Gaza after protests at Columbia University that have sparked comparable movements at both public and private campuses.

Seventeen anti-war protestors were detained by state troopers at UT Dallas on Wednesday, while at least 15 were arrested by the NYPD at Fordham University in the Bronx.

On Wednesday, UCLA decided to suspend classes to defuse the situation on the campus’s central quad.