Los Angeles, May 1 (EFE).- The University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) canceled its classes this Wednesday after the police intervention on campus that occurred during the early hours of the morning to stop violent clashes between groups of pro-Israel protesters and those demanding stop the war in Gaza.
UCLA informed students through an email that all classes were canceled this Wednesday and that police officers would remain in the main buildings next to the camp and through the social network X encouraged people to avoid the area where the clashes occurred.
Police were deployed early Wednesday “due to multiple acts of violence within the large encampment (set up by pro-Palestinian protesters) on their campus,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on social media.
The intervention occurred after groups of pro-Israel protesters dressed in black and wearing white masks confronted students installed in a camp on the university campus last night to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Before the events in California, the New York Police stormed the emblematic Hamilton Hall building (Columbia University) on Tuesday night, occupied hours before by pro-Palestinian students, in an eviction operation that left 282 protesters arrested. .
Through social networks, the office of the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, reported that after the events in New York they mobilized the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to support universities that requested assistance and that they had created a “ robust Law Enforcement Mutual Aid System” in cases where the capacity of local and campus police is exceeded.
Pro-Palestinian protests have spread across the country since last week, with protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza.
In Los Angeles, the University of Southern California (USC), the city’s most recognized private university, canceled the main 2024 graduation ceremony, following the arrest of dozens of students in a protest.
The decision came after several weeks of setbacks by USC that began with the cancellation of the speech of the best student of the year, the Muslim Asna Tabassum, considering that some of her publications on social networks were anti-Semitic, and alleging that for security reasons They had to suppress their participation.
The event generated protests and led to the total cancellation of the event that traditionally brings together about 65,000 people.
The demonstrations continue on the campus located in the heart of the city and on Tuesday the organizers of the protests met for the second consecutive day with the president of USC, Carol Folt.
Upstate, pro-Palestinian students at California Polytechnic State University Humboldt were evicted Tuesday after being barricaded inside a building for more than a week, with at least 35 people arrested.
However, police confrontations at some universities have not stopped the protest camp at the University of California Berkeley, recognized by the student movement that defends freedom of expression, which has continued until this Wednesday.
