UCLA pro-Palestine protestors brace for clashes with cops for the second night ... trends now
Video showed Pro-Palestine protesters at UCLA appearing to brace for clashes with LAPD in riot gear after they threatened arrest for anyone who refused to leave encampments amid another night of protest across America's universities.
There were arrests made on campuses like Ivy League Dartmouth in Rhode Island, the University of Texas at Dallas, while police also made their move, arresting 34 people on the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with police saying some officers had been injured.
New York City continued to see it's share of protests as well, with students at Fordham joining with their brethren at NYU and Columbia. Officers arrested at least 15 Fordham protesters Wednesday.
Across the country at UCLA, a large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps outside the barricaded area of tents, sitting as they listened and applauded various speakers and joined in pro-Palestinian chants.
Videos shared on social media showed crowds chanting 'Shame on you!' and 'LAPD KKK!' at the officers while others showed the demonstrators appearing unbothered by the presence of police, unlike their cross-country counterparts who fled the scene.
Police in riot gear threatened arrest with anyone who refused to leave pro-Palestinian encampments on the campus of UCLA amid another night of protest across America at various colleges
New York Police Department officers detain dozens of pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University after they barricaded themselves at the Hamilton Hall building near Gaza Solidarity Encampment
Police arrest protesters during pro-Palestinian demonstrations at The City College Of New York
Overheard television cameras showed students in the barricaded area passing out goggles and helmets, as well as setting up medical aid stations.
A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people gathered nearby.
The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers.
Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, and no one was arrested.
At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
'We need to take a stand for it,' he said. 'Enough is enough.'
Elsewhere, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, activists clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents early Wednesday, and police dismantled an encampment at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire just hours after pro-Palestinian demonstrators put up a handful of tents.
NYPD officers in riot gear enter Columbia University's encampment as they evict a building that had been barricaded by pro-Palestinian student protesters
New York City continued to see it's share of protests as well, with students at Fordham joining with their brethren at NYU and Columbia
The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers
Officers arrested multiple people, including at least one professor, according to local media reports.
The chaotic scenes unfolded early Wednesday after police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the New York school.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that 'a group of instigators' perpetrated the previous night's attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
'However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,' he said. 'It has shaken our campus to its core.'
Block promised a review of the night's events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor denounced the delays.
'The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,' Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus later Wednesday, where some Muslim students detailed the overnight events.
Speakers disputed the university´s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher.
One student described needing to go to
