FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2024 5A LOS ANGELES Police in riot gear swept onto the UCLA campus Thursday and tore down makeshift barricades and a pro-Palestinian protest encamp- ment that was attacked by pro-Israeli counterprotesters earlier this week. The predawn crackdown marked the latest for protests scattered across U.S. colleges amid mounting an- ger over war in Gaza and grow- ing impatience on the part of school ad- ministrators to allow disruptions they say make their campuses unsafe. At UCLA, in riot gear made several arrests and with stu- dent protesters who had enforced a strict code of no violence throughout the protest that drew several hundred people. By dawn, police had cleared the plaza of the tents and plywood walls that had formed a protest camp for a week, but a smaller group of protesters remained assembled just outside that area.
Political science major Jonathan Giang, 22, was sitting on the steps lead- ing up to Dickson Plaza, where protes- ters have been camped for several days. He said he heard that students were re- grouping before heading back to set the protest up again but added that he seen much evidence of that. Giang said he had mixed feelings about the end of the protests. He was sorry to see the police clamp down, but he was also relieved it was over. least I know my friends get- ting hurt any Giang said.
know students are having issues getting through midterms and classes. Now maybe things can go back to a sense of After canceling classes Wednesday, UCLA required all in-person classes to switch to remote learning Thursday and Friday. The protests stem from concerns for civilian deaths during the Israeli-Ha- mas war in Gaza that began Oct. 7 when about 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in a Hamas-led attack. Israeli retaliatory attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and obliter- ated much of the infrastruc- ture.
The resulting humanitarian crisis has fueled outrage on some U.S. cam- puses and spurred demands for an end to investment in Israeli companies. In other developments: A was un- derway Thursday afternoon on the Col- lege Green at the University of Pennsyl- vania, where a Gaza Solidarity encamp- ment was set up last week. The public safety urged people to avoid the area in a campus alert and said police were at the scene. Portland State campus was closed Thursday as police moved in to clear protesters from a library they had occupied since Monday.
In a social media post on Portland police said 12 people had been arrested, four of them students at the school. at the University of Cali- fornia in Berkeley have opened talks with student leaders regarding the en- campment set up in front of the Sproul Hall since April 22, the Daily Californian campus newspaper report- ed. The school said be- tween protesters and counterdemon- strators Wednesday evening left three people with minor injuries. Chancellor Ray Rodrigues instruct- ed state universities in Florida not to cancel or modify commencement cere- monies because of demonstra- tors. we are witnessing a descent into chaos all over the country, under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSan- tis, Florida has maintained law and or- Rodrigues wrote in a memo to the presidents.
Students at several French univer- sities, including Sciences Po and Sor- bonne University, have barricaded or occupied areas of their schools in pro- test of the war in Gaza. Adams decries New York Mayor Eric Adams, in an interview Thursday with NPR, said more than of those arrested at Co- lumbia University and the City College of New York protests on Tuesday were not with either school. The mayor called them actors with a history of escalating situations and trying to create CNN, citing an NYPD said 134 of the 282 people arrested were not iated with the schools. According to the 80 people arrested at Columbia were with the university in some way, while 32 were not. At CCNY, 68 people arrested were with the school and 102 were not, the said.
The NYPD told CNN the de- partment was able to determine the breakdowns by cross-checking records with the universities. Deal reached at U. of Minnesota Pro-Palestinian supporters agreed to remove their four-day encampment at the University of Minnesota following an agreement made with school leader- ship. Interim University President Ettinger agreed to conversa- with the career services depart- ment in response to the de- mand to ban companies that do busi- ness with Israel from attending campus events and participating in job fairs. Ettinger also will recommend the University of Minnesota Police Depart- ment not arrest or press charges against anyone on a criminal as a result of the demonstrations and allow the or- ganizing coalition to address the Board of Regents on May 10 concerning their demand for the university to divest from Israel.
Northwestern University and Brown University are among other schools that have resolved the protests through ne- gotiations. The Minnesota deal out of a desire among those involved to reach shared Ettinger said in a letter to the university commu- nity. we do not condone tactics that are outside of our policies, we ap- preciate student willingness to engage in Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, Yancey-Bragg, Zachary Schermele and Sam Woodward, USA TODAY; Reuters A California Highway Patrol officer kicks a piece of plywood that was used to construct a barricade at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Thursday on campus in Los Angeles. YANNICK TODAY Police dismantle UCLA encampment Latest in Gaza protests on campuses John Bacon and Will Carless USA TODAY WASHINGTON After more than a week of silence, as dramatic images of student arrests the news, Presi- dent Joe Biden spoke Thursday, con- demning violence on college campuses while defending the right of pro-Pales- tinian protesters to demonstrate. all seen the images, and they put the test to two fundamental Amer- ican Biden said.
is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard. The second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld. We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash In unscheduled remarks from the White House Roosevelt Room, Biden called peaceful protest the best tra- dition of how Americans respond to consequential but said protest is not property is not a peace- ful protest. against the Biden said.
trespassing, breaking windows shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations none of this is a peaceful protest. a civil society and order must he continued. the right to protest, but not the right to cause Biden said he did not support bring- ing in the National Guard and that the protests had not forced him to reconsid- er his policies in the Middle East. Biden had stayed mostly silent on protests that complicate his reelection campaign as he looks to unify the Dem- ocratic coalition. On Wednesday, re- porters repeatedly pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean- Pierre on why her boss comment- ed on the impossible-to-miss campus protests.
Biden speaks about Gaza protests Joey Garrison and Francesca Chambers USA TODAY.
