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Police waited a few hours to enter the camp after asking the crowd to disperse. The protesters did not move and several were arrested. Tear gas was fired.
In update
Helicopters flew over the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), non-lethal explosions to scare and disperse the crowd, barricades destroyed, and tear gas. Tensions rose at UCLA late Wednesday and early Thursday, a day after violent clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and a group of counterprotesters who attacked tents with sticks and poles.
This led the crowd that police tried to disperse this morning to shout “Where were you last night?” At Dickson Plaza, the UCLA plaza where hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters encamped, police warned Wednesday afternoon that if they did not disperse, the protesters would be arrested.
That’s what ended up happening. More than six hours after the warning, the police entered the field. In the first phase, without major confrontations or resistance from the crowd. But after leaving and surrounding the campus, they entered again, and this time more quickly.
According to the Associated Press, police helicopters flew over UCLA and explosions were heard from devices that produce bright light and loud noise to scare and disperse crowds. Police destroyed barricades made of plywood, pallets, metal fences and garbage containers in the camp and tore down awnings and tents.
The protesters carried umbrellas as shields and warned their colleagues to prepare themselves with water in case the police launched tear gas, which according to the North American press had already been launched against the crowd.
Images spread by the international press show young people in plastic handcuffs sitting or kneeling next to the authorities while the police tried to disperse the crowd. It is not known with certainty whether they were later released or taken to the police station. According to police information revealed on Wednesday, 1,600 people have already been arrested in pro-Palestinian protests at North American universities.
According to The New York Times, an hour after the police operation, the main barricade protecting the field was dismantled. In its place is now a cordon of protesters shouting “Don’t attack the students.”
UCLA announced it will extend remote classes this Thursday and Friday. The university asks that students, teaching and non-teaching staff avoid Dickson Plaza. In a message to the school community, he warned that he had “declared the camp and all unauthorized tents and structures in Dickson Plaza as illegal“. “The University requires that everyone immediately leave the camp and adjacent areas, as well as all unauthorized structures and tents, until further notice,” they state.
Protesters have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and asked universities to cut ties with Israeli companies, including those that supply military hardware to Israel.
Source: Observadora
