Campus protests: UCLA sees violent clashes; NYPD clears occupied Columbia building

Violent clashes between pro-Palestinian groups and counter-protesters at UCLA overnight prompted university officials to call for help from the Los Angeles Police Department, The Los Angeles Times is reporting.

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According to UCLA officials, the school was left with no choice but to call in police after it declared the pro-Palestinian encampment illegal on Tuesday night.

The LAPD said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was responding at the university’s request due to “multiple acts of violence.”

According to the Times, videos showed fireworks being set off and at least one being thrown into the pro-Palestinian encampment. During the overnight hours, demonstrators threw objects, including wood and a metal barrier, the Times reported.

“Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” Mary Osako, a vice chancellor at the university, said in an emailed statement. “The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tweeted around 2 a.m. that the LAPD had arrived on campus. Those on the scene reported police in riot gear were moving onto the campus to confront the protesters.

The violence at UCLA came hours after law enforcement units forced their way into Hamilton Hall on New York’s Columbia University campus and cleared the building that had been taken over on Tuesday by a pro-Palestinian group.

In addition to taking the building back, police cleared encampments on the campus and arrested around 100 people, according to The New York Times.

Officers used a large truck and a ramp to gain entry through a window in the second story of the building.

Columbia President Nemak Shafik requested the New York City Police Department’s assistance in a letter that was released after police entered Hamilton Hall and arrested protesters who had occupied the building early Tuesday, the New York Times reported.

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