36 hours at UCLA protests: From late-night violence to police clearing pro-Palestine camps

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A night of violence at UCLA led the university and Los Angeles law enforcement agencies to demolish a pro-Palestine encampment where students and others had gathered for a week to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.

The tension escalated late Tuesday when counter protesters arrived at the encampment and began tearing at barricades, beating pro-Palestine protesters and harassing them with fireworks and pepper spray. Police did not intervene immediately, waiting hours before moving in and separating the groups.

On Wednesday, UCLA declared the encampment to be unlawful and announced that it would clear the site. Law enforcement agencies returned in force that night and cleared the encampment early Thursday. They used loud flash bangs and fired projectiles into crowds to disperse the protesters.

CalMatters reporter Sergio Olmos captured some of the violence and the camp-clearing that unfolded this week. Here’s a look at what he and other visual journalists saw.

May 2

UCLA and University of California leaders condemned the violence that broke out Tuesday night and laid plans to take down the encampment.

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block wrote in a statement. “It has shaken our campus to its core and — adding to other abhorrent incidents that we have witnessed and that have circulated on social media over the past several days — further damaged our community’s sense of security.”

Law enforcement agencies took down the camp by the following day. UCLA reported that 300 people left the encampment voluntarily, “while more than 200 resisted orders to disperse and were arrested.”