United States: The activities of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, saw them create a new encampment only to occupy a campus building on Thursday. This happened before police officers in riot gear descended on the area to disperse the protesters.
The protests held every Thursday since June of this year involving hundreds of people happened just on the same day when the U.C.L.A. chancellor was questioned in the hearing that was conducted on Capitol Hill over his conduct of a similar protest in the previous month.
Later in the day, approximately 70 protesters locked themselves into Dodd Hall, an academic building for students, blocking the doors with computer cords and jackets, the New York Times News reported.
Protesters call for wider appeal
One of the protesters, while speaking into a megaphone, asked those not affiliated with U.C.L.A. to remove the place and considered the temporary nature of the protest, added, “We’re building this plane as we fly it.”
However, just a few hours after most of the protesters had entered the facility, armed police forcefully ejected everyone, something entirely unlike what Republican politicians condemned as the slow action against the demonstrations at the end of April.
The protesters had first attempted to establish a small camp during the afternoon on Thursday in the area called the Kerckhoff Patio but had to vacate it soon, for the police in helmets and batons arrived, as the New York Times News reported.
They then went to an area besides Murphy Hall, reaching what was estimated to be one hundred, three hundred people then proceeded to migrate to Dodd Hall.
What are the major demands of protestors?
The sentiments of protests have particularly been observed in the past couple of weeks, where student activists have been demanding that the university withdraw its investments from companies that, in one way or another, support Israel’s war in Gaza.
The protest that they conducted in April was one of the most conspicuous campus protests this year. Over 200 demonstrators were detained when a group of Jewish activists who supported the occupation stormed the camp. It is interesting to note that despite the chaos that has accompanied the protest, nobody among the counterprotesters has been arrested.
The protests that took place on Thursday were small and briefly disrupted before the police intervention, and most of the students escaped. The university affirmed to the populace that they never heard the police conducting an arrest.
Statements by university officials
According to the university officials, the demonstrators were “disrupting campus operations” as they had blocked off a part of campus.
The officials added, “Demonstrators have been informed that if they do not disperse, they will face arrest and possible disciplinary action, as well as an order to stay away from campus for seven days,” while adding that the order would be applied to anyone, whether university-affiliated or not.
Gene D. Block, U.C.L.A.’s chancellor, and the leaders of Northwestern and Rutgers testified before a Republican-led House committee about accusations of antisemitism on their campuses.
Dr. Block, who, while defending his university’s reaction to the April encampment, said that he was worried about the rise of antisemitism on campuses throughout the country.
“With the benefit of hindsight, we should have been prepared to immediately remove the encampment if and when the safety of our community was put at risk,” he said, who is also set to step down from chancellor post by the end of July.