UCLA and other campuses on Monday faced intense and swift police action against protesters, as university officials said protesters were disrupting campus and violating laws and the student code of conduct in the wake of last week’s violence and tension. There will be very little tolerance for. Palestinian encampments.
On Monday at UCLA, campus police arrested 44 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in a parking structure — students called the action harassment and intimidation — as they assembled ahead of a peaceful protest. When other protesters entered a building on the campus they were ordered to disperse. Classes shifted online rest of the week As a safety precaution.
This action followed a pledge from UCLA officials improve security After a violent mob last week Pro-Palestinian camp attacked Which was later broken up by law enforcement. The UCLA police chief has faced intense criticism for his failure to bring in police fast enough to stop the violence and melee.
64 people, including 40 students at UC San Diego, were arrested. The growing pro-Palestinian encroachment was declared illegal by the Chancellor and removed on Monday morning. After anti-Semitic graffiti was found on Cal State LA buildings over the weekend, the university president increased campus security “to take swift and decisive action if any further illegal activity occurs.”
More protests emerged at UCLA on Monday, with police arresting several people who gathered in a campus parking garage.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
At USC – A Sunday Site Police wiped out before dawn and the destruction of a pro-Palestinian camp – security remained tight ahead of the graduation. Only two entrances to the campus were open, with long queues of students waiting to pass through the identification checkpoints. A few days before the graduation, the Alumni Park in the center of the campus was cordoned off with a high fence, where encroachments were cleared.
“When free speech protests turn into illegal occupation, violating the rights of others, we must draw a line,” USC President Carroll Folt wrote in a letter to the USC community after police dismantled the encampment on Sunday. Needed.”
The increased enforcement of campus rules at UC San Diego and UCLA represents a change in tactics from a more light-hearted approach that allowed students to exercise their free speech rights to support Palestinians and demand an end to Israeli bombing of Gaza. Permission was given to set up camp under.
The response had to be changed in some encampments, where escalating conflict was leading to skirmishes, blocking some roads, building fortifications with plywood and, ultimately, mob violence at UCLA, said a UC source who declined to speak publicly. Was not authorized to speak.
“As things start to grow, universities are moving from tolerant ‘It’s OK, it’s free speech’ to ‘These things are going beyond free speech.’ “It is hindering the delivery of university services,” the source said. “It is pushing each university to think about how to mitigate or work around what is happening on campus.” Do or solve.
“One size does not fit all. All campuses have their own identity and culture. And they are all in different stages,” the source said.
Some students are against tighter security and have expressed concerns about abuse of police power following Monday’s arrests at UCLA.
“It’s really clear that the university is showing us its power, its power — whether it’s legal or not — to suppress what we’re trying to say,” said Mary Salem, media liaison for the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment. She was not among those arrested, but she spoke about how the arrests are raising concerns among protesters who are dedicated to calling for peace in Gaza.
“The university’s response is more police presence, more silence, more intimidation,” said the 28-year-old graduate student. “We will keep moving forward.”
UC Police stand outside Dodd Hall as more protests unfold at UCLA.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
social media platform KNX News Reporter, However, a few hours later, a UCLA police lieutenant told the Daily Bruin that 43 persons were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft.
A student called this allegation false. The student shared a text he sent Sunday about a low-key “sit-in-style building business” with a meeting point at 6 a.m. Monday in the parking structure.
Both the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff’s Department, who were at the scene, declined to comment on the incident, saying UCLA’s police department is the lead agency. The Sheriff’s Department is “only involved in transportation,” said Deputy Grace Medrano, a spokeswoman for the agency. UCLA officials did not answer several questions about the nature of the arrest.
Those arrested Monday, all appearing zip-tied, were escorted from the parking garage to an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department bus. was at least a freelance journalist Among those arrested. He said he was booked on charges of conspiracy to commit theft, despite initially being stopped and let go by officers who said he was violating a curfew for people unaffiliated with the university. He denied that he was involved in any illegal behavior.
Meanwhile, at UC San Diego, students faced off with officers in riot gear who descended on a camp set up five days earlier. For the San Diego Union-Tribune, UC San Diego police dismantled the structure and arrested 64 people, 40 of whom were students, on suspicion of unlawful assembly, a university spokesperson said.,
The action came a day after Chancellor Pradeep Khosla described the occupation as “illegal” and the group dispersed. Khosla emphasized that letter to the community He continued to support free speech, but said that the camp, which has tripled in size since its establishment, now poses an “unacceptable safety and security threat”.
“As time passes, the risk and likelihood of violent clashes increases,” Khosla said.
Khosla found wooden poles, propane tanks, metal and plywood shields, aerosol spray cans, and a sword inside the camp. said in a statement on Monday, He said two minor injuries have been reported in connection with the police activity.
“After the encroachment was removed, protesters interfered with police operations, including physically obstructing San Diego County Sheriff officers and buses, blocking traffic, and banging on windows in an attempt to hinder the arrest process,” the statement said. Beating was involved. This resulted in an additional arrest.”
Police detained several people at a UCLA campus parking garage on Monday.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Under UC Community Safety guidelines, campuses are instructed to rely on communication with protesters first to resolve issues and call police as a last resort. Those guidelines were adopted after UC Davis police pepper-sprayed students protesting economic inequality in 2011 — actions that sparked a storm of controversy, leading to the firing of at least one police officer and a systemwide New practices were introduced in the review and report.
But as protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict grow on some campuses, the approach to dealing with them is also changing, the UC source said.
Of the camps set up on eight of the nine UC undergraduate campuses, only UCLA and UC San Diego have called on law enforcement to remove them and made arrests as more conflict has erupted at the sites.
UC Irvine was moving in that direction, but as things calmed down and negotiations with protesters continued, the encampment remained intact. UC Davis students camped out in a grassy area on Monday; Campus officials are allowing it now because it remains small and peaceful. Such camps also reside on UC campuses in Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz.
Following last week’s mob attack, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block made an announcement Sunday New Office of Campus Safety Overseeing the University Police Department and emergency management functions. The new office is led by former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Brazile. The Brazilian reports directly to the bloc in a new unit focused solely on security. Previously, security operations were overseen by Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck as one of several responsibilities.
More protests unfolded at UCLA on Monday.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Although Brazile began his duties immediately Sunday, UCLA Police Chief John Thomas remains in control of the police department. It is unclear whether Thomas increased the number of UCLA officers on duty Monday or what instructions he gave them.
But as turmoil continued at the campus on Monday, Thomas’s ability to effectively manage the operation and pass on critical information to the media and public, including details of the arrest, was being questioned.
According to one source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, calls for his ouster were now “deafening.” Three sources told The Times last week that Thomas failed to provide a written security plan and secure enough law enforcement officers to keep the campus community safe.
He defended his actions, telling The Times last week that he “did everything I could” to call enough police to protect the community.
Times staff writers James Queally, Summer Lynn, Ashley Ahn and staff photographer Brian van der Brug contributed to this report.
