LOS ANGELES, June 12.— A pro-Palestinian protest at UCLA on Monday night ended with police making dozens of arrests and ordering protesters who were cited not to return to campus. for at least two weeks, officials said.
The police action came after protesters roamed the campus earlier that day reciting the names of some of the Palestinians who have died in Gaza, a protest in addition to several that have taken place on campus in recent weeks.
Protesters dyed the waters of the Shapiro Fountain red, as seen in aerial images from local television stations, and for several hours, the demonstration was largely peaceful, the Los Angeles Times reporter said.
However, the journalist added, the situation later became chaotic, when Los Angeles police and private security guards formed a skirmish line and confronted protesters behind the barricades.
UCLA associate professor Graeme Blair, a member of the Faculty for Justice in Palestine, said one student was taken to the hospital for treatment for wounds caused by a rubber bullet, which he said was fired when the students were at the camp near the Dodd Hall building.
The professor criticized authorities, saying students had been following orders to disperse throughout the night, although UCLA police said in a statement Monday night that about 25 protesters had been arrested on suspicion of intentionally disrupting university operations.
Protesters would be cited and issued orders to stay away from UCLA property for 14 days and then released, police said. The police statement said the group tampered with fire safety equipment, stripped wires from electrical equipment and caused other damage on campus.
The reporter noted that police had previously ordered protesters to disperse at least twice, and the crowd quickly dismantled tents and barricades and left.
moved to different places on campus. As the protesters marched, one of them read aloud the names of the murdered Palestinians. “They will not die in vain,” the protesters chanted after each name. “They will be redeemed,” and they placed roses next to a coffin painted with the Palestinian flag that was next to simulated bloody corpses.
Several teachers followed the crowd with a sign showing their support for the students and the demonstration. Monday’s event marked the third pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA in recent weeks, the first in late April, and the Los Angeles Times recalls that the second was torn down on May 3 by a violent mob of Zionists, and police concluded by arresting at least 200 of the participants in the pro-Palestinian camp.
At Monday’s demonstration, which was declared an “unlawful assembly” by police, most protesters wore surgical masks, and those on the edges of the moving camp carried makeshift wooden shields or laid down chicken wire to barricade themselves in, while shouting: “Police, get off campus.”
