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Students protest in Los Angeles, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups clash

2024-05-01 13:18:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

Two different groups of protesters, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel, clashed with fists, sticks and kicks on May 1 on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

After several hours of fighting between these two groups, the police intervened to separate the groups and quell the violence.

Just a few hours ago, police intervened on another university campus in the US to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who had holed up inside a building at Columbia University.

Police have been more active on campuses across the US in the past two weeks, following protests calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies supporting the war in Gaza.

There have been confrontations and more than 1,000 arrests of protesting students.

The clashes at UCLA took place around an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian protesters, who set up barricades as counter-protesters tried to tear them down. Some protesters threw chairs and at one point a group of people swarmed over a person who was lying on the ground, kicking and beating him with sticks.

The number of people injured during these clashes is still unknown.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the violence "absolutely disgusting and inexcusable" and said officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were on the scene after being told the university had requested police assistance.

Protests spread across the US

The October 7 attack in southern Israel by Hamas militants — the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union — and the subsequent Israeli offensive have sparked the largest student protests in the US since the 2020 anti-racism protests.

Pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered at the City College of New York, with the university ordering them off campus, New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said. Dozens of protesters were arrested, the New York Times reported.

Daughtry also said the university had requested a police presence to help disperse the protesters.

Many of the protests across the US have been met with counter-protests accusing them of inciting anti-Semitism. The pro-Palestinian side, including Jews who oppose Israeli actions in Gaza, say they are being unfairly labeled as anti-Semitic for criticizing Israel's government and voicing support for human rights.

The issue has taken on political overtones ahead of the US presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic rhetoric.

White House spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday called the forced entry into campus buildings "the wrong approach"./ REL