Security at UCLA beefed up after latest pro-Palestinian protests, arrests – Daily News

About 25 people were arrested Monday evening during a pro-Palestinian protest at UCLA. Photo: OC Hawk

Security remained tight on the UCLA campus Tuesday, June 11, after another night of clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police that resulted in around 25 arrests, further disrupting a campus in the middle of final exams and preparations for the start of activities.

The protests also came ahead of a scheduled Wednesday meeting in Westwood of the University of California Board of Trustees, which is expected to discuss nominating a new UCLA chancellor to replace Gene Block, who is expected to retire on July 31.

The regents' agenda includes closed-door and open session discussions on appointing a chancellor and an interim chancellor.

The new chancellor will inherit a campus that has been rocked by protests in recent weeks, which have led to hundreds of arrests, accusations of unfair labor practices by union employees, an investigation by the Congress on campus response to anti-Semitism, lawsuits accusing university of failing to protect Jewish students and protesters' accusations of excessive force by campus police and interference with law to freedom of expression.

Tensions on campus were on display Monday, when about 100 protesters organized by UCLA's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine initially gathered for a funeral procession-style march that included fake bodies and body parts bloodied. The demonstrators planned to read the names of “more than 46,000 Palestinians martyred or buried under rubble” during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the organization.

The group met in the Dickson Plaza neighborhood, where participants set up what they called a facsimile of the previous large-scale encampment in the same neighborhood that had been dismantled by police during an operation night last month which led to 209 arrests. Protesters also dyed the water in a fountain in a square red.

University police and campus security officers responded quickly and used bicycles to try to prevent more protesters from entering the area. Police say one person was arrested on suspicion of interfering with a police officer, but was cited and released.

According to the UCLA Police Department, some protesters blocked the top of the Janss Steps leading to the square and created what police described as an unauthorized and illegal encampment with tents, canopies, shields in wood and barriers filled with water. The group also restricted access to the general public, in violation of university policy, police said. Police also said the group use of amplified sound also threatened to disrupt final exams held in nearby classrooms.

A UCPD officer told the Daily Bruin, the campus newspaper, that the gathering was declared illegal around 4 p.m. Shortly before 6 p.m., university police gave protesters 10 minutes to disperse, telling them they would be arrested if they did not leave the area. . The protesters quickly complied, dismantling their tents and removing other materials from the square, then marching to Kerckhoff Patio, where they set up another small encampment and attempted to block off the area with patio furniture and other materials. materials. Protesters continued their efforts to read the names of war victims.

Within an hour, police declared the gathering illegal and ordered protesters to disperse. The group left this area and then moved to Shapiro Court behind Dodd Hall where they again attempted to set up a small camp and continue reading names.

At that point, more police began arriving on campus, including officers from the California Highway Patrol.

Around 8 p.m., around 25 members of the group were arrested on suspicion of intentionally disrupting university operations, police said. They were cited and ordered to stay off the UCLA campus for 14 days.