Tension does not ease four days after the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian camp at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). This Monday, the police arrested 43 students gathered to peacefully demonstrate against Israel’s military operation in Rafah. On the same school’s San Diego campus, another 64 people, including 40 students, were arrested after university authorities declared an illegal camp that had been in place for five days. This has been lifted by the police in a few minutes. The action has caused clashes between agents and students wearing the Palestinian flag and kufiyas.
Police began arresting people in one of the UCLA parking lots at 6 a.m. on Monday. According to the protesters, the arrests were allegedly made for having violated the nighttime curfew decreed by the university authorities to prevent a new camp from settling in. The group claims that such a curfew does not apply to active students and that they were apprehended and taken off campus despite having shown their IDs. A police spokesperson disputes this version and assured that those arrested were accused of conspiring to illegally enter a building, a misdemeanor.
These actions were enough to disrupt university life, which was preparing to return to normal after an intense week marked by pro-Palestinian protests and the clash with a group of pro-Israel provocateurs. There was no daily life this Monday. After the arrests, students received an email notifying them that classes for the rest of the week will be held online.
“We held a protest to show that we are still here. “We continually try to focus our voices on the people of Gaza despite the violence that has been directed against us,” Mohamed, a member of the group of protesters, told the university newspaper. The Daily Bruin. The student has also called for the university to cover the medical expenses of those who were injured after the eviction of the camp, which left some 200 detained, and where the police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
Denis Poroy (AP/LaPresse)
At the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), clashes between police and students could not be avoided. About 200 agents armed with riot gear entered the university facilities in La Jolla, north of the border city, at 6:00 a.m. to dismantle a peaceful protest camp against the War in Gaza. In the operation, 65 people were arrested, 40 of them students.
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The camp, made up of fifty tents, stood on the campus for five days. It was one more example of how student protests against the Israeli military offensive supported by US President Joe Biden have multiplied rapidly in several cities and states. The complex network of the University of California, with a dozen campuses throughout the State, has adopted in response the measure taken last week by the chancellor of the Los Angeles campus, Gene Block. Declare the meeting illegal and repress these expressions.
The clashes in San Diego began after police broke up the camp while many of the protesters were sleeping. Minutes later, a hundred students faced the uniformed officers, who were guarding the Geisel, the library and main building of the university. Images of the confrontation show uniformed men with long batons, armor, helmets and rubber bullet rifles pushing students.
UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said the university allows peaceful protests, but that the camp “violated the center’s policies and laws” to the point of becoming an “unacceptable risk” to the entire community. Khosla also indicated that police gave repeated warnings to students before beginning to make arrests. The students, on the other hand, claim that the uniformed officers only gave them 10 minutes to leave the place.
On Monday the temperature has only increased at California universities. This Thursday the event will take place that aims to conclude the studies of tens of thousands of students at the University of Southern California. This after the authorities of the private educational center were forced to cancel the graduation ceremony after the arrest of 93 protesters. Thursday’s party will be held amid a strict security operation that has reduced the presence of family members and guests of those who are received to a minimum.
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