Gaza conflict
Pro-Palestinian university protest camp in Los Angeles cleared
Police on the UCLA campus near a camp set up by pro-Palestinian protesters. photo
© Ryan Sun/AP/dpa
For months, US universities have been epicenters of the bitter American debate over the Gaza war. The evacuation of a protest camp in New York was followed by a police operation in Los Angeles.
After the operation against pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York, the police also… Los Angeles cleared a tent camp on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The US broadcaster CNN showed images of the remains of the camp on the site. The officers had previously torn down the barricades that had been set up. The New York Times reported more than 100 arrests, citing emergency services. Videos showed scuffles between police and demonstrators.
The authorities had declared the camp on the UCLA grounds an “unlawful assembly.” According to the Los Angeles Times, several thousand protesters subsequently gathered around the barricaded tent camp and opposed the emergency services and initially pushed them back from the camp. Violence had already broken out the previous night when supporters of the opposing side tried to tear down the protest camp themselves.
Protests against Israel’s actions in the Gaza war and for solidarity with the Palestinians have flared up at various US university locations in recent weeks. Mostly it involves the demand for universities and companies to cut financial relationships with Israel. While some Jewish students participate in these protests, others feel threatened and stay away from campuses. Well over 1,000 demonstrators were arrested across the country.
Critics accuse the radical part of the protest movement in particular of anti-Semitism and trivializing Hamas – the Islamist organization denies Israel’s right to exist and triggered the Gaza war with an unprecedented massacre on October 7th. Opposite them are protests in many places that show solidarity with the Israeli side and demand the release of the hostages still held captive by Hamas. Anti-Semitic acts had increased on campuses since October 7th. Islamophobic attacks too.
State of emergency also at other universities
There were also police operations again at other US universities. According to Hanover police, 90 people were arrested at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. They were accused of trespassing and resisting state authority after tents were set up on the site without permission. According to police, only some of those arrested were Dartmouth students or teachers.
In Dallas, police clearing a protest camp on the University of Texas campus took at least 20 people into custody and were expected to spend the night in jail, Fox4 reported. Stony Brook University in New York also announced that a demonstration on its premises that initially began peacefully had degenerated. Tents were set up and other students were intimidated and harassed. 29 protesters were then arrested, including students and employees as well as non-members of the university.
More than two weeks ago, the wave of campus protests at New York’s elite Columbia University began with a tent camp that was quickly broken up by the police. The approach, which was perceived as particularly harsh, spurred the students on, so that a larger camp was formed. Tensions led the largely peaceful protests to eventually lead to the violent occupation of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia campus. A large NYPD contingent then cleared the campus and temporarily arrested more than 200 students.
Herzog: “Shameless hostility”
Israeli President Izchak Herzog on Thursday spoke out against a rise in anti-Semitism worldwide and also spoke of “hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students at universities across the United States.” Addressing students and members of Jewish communities worldwide, Herzog said: “The people of Israel stand with you. We hear you. We see the shameless hostility and the threats. We feel the insult, the breach of trust and the breach of friendship. We share the discomfort and the Concern.”
Pro-Palestinian protests also at British universities
Pro-Palestinian protests are also taking place at some universities in the UK. Students in the cities of Leeds, Newcastle and Bristol set up tents in front of university buildings on Wednesday to protest against the war in the Gaza Strip, the British news agency PA reported. Photos from Manchester also show some tents with Palestinian flags.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Penny Mordaunt called on police to take “extremely strict action” if students resorted to violence in the UK. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman emphasized the right to peaceful protest. However, this should not be abused to intimidate others or cause unrest. “Of course, the police already have extensive powers to maintain public order to prevent unrest during protests and will continue to have our full support in doing so if necessary,” he said.
The Times newspaper reported that the camps in Great Britain were only a fraction of the size of those at the US universities Yale and Columbia. There have been repeated protests in Great Britain since the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7th triggered Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Times, the protests were planned before the wave of demonstrations in the USA, but have now gained new momentum. A Jewish student association in Britain has called on universities to protect Jewish students. “Students have the right to protest, but these camps create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students,” the Union of Jewish Students said on the X (formerly Twitter) platform.