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Tag: pro-palestinian camp

  • Before mob attack, UCLA police chief was ordered to create security plan but didn’t, sources say

    Before mob attack, UCLA police chief was ordered to create security plan but didn’t, sources say

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    On the morning before a mob attacked a pro-Palestinian student encampment at UCLA, campus Police Chief John Thomas assured university leadership that he could mobilize law enforcement “in minutes” — a miscalculation from the three hours it took to actually bring in enough officers to quell the violence, according to three sources.

    Days earlier, campus leadership had directed Thomas to create a safety plan that would protect the UCLA community after the encampment was put up last week and began drawing agitators, the sources said. The chief was told to spare no expense to bring in other UC police officers, offer overtime and hire as many private security officers needed to keep the peace.

    But Thomas did not provide a plan to senior UCLA leadership — even after he was again asked to provide one after skirmishes broke out between Israel supporters and pro-Palestinian advocates at dueling rallies Sunday.

    The account of Thomas’ actions leading up to the attack was provided by three sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.

    Thomas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. UCLA also declined to comment.

    But internal calls are growing for the police chief to step aside as University of California President Michael V. Drake initiates an independent review of UCLA’s response, the sources said. The police chief reports to Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who oversees the UCLA Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management. Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom has also called for answers to explain “the limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA.”

    UCLA Chancellor Gene Block described the attack in a statement as a “a dark chapter in our campus’s history” and said the university was “carefully examining our own security processes in light of recent events.”

    Key questions involve when officials decided to bring in help from other agencies and whether help could have arrived sooner. Outside police forces generally do not enter the campus without the university’s approval, since it functions as an independent municipal entity although it is on state land.

    The Times reported Thursday that the UCLA Police Department had asked other campuses for additional police officers five days before the attack. The reporting was based on documents the paper reviewed and information from the head of the UC police officers union. Only a few on-duty UCLA police officers were on hand to protect the encampment Tuesday night.

    The mutual aid requests made Thursday and Friday, April 25-26 — which would have provided UCLA with more officers as they dealt with the camp and a dueling area erected by pro-Israel activists — were both canceled by Thomas because the protests were peaceful, the sources said.

    The responsibility to call for mutual aid through the UC Systemwide Response Team — a group of about 80 officers across the 10 campuses — has to be made by the host university’s chief of police, according to the UC police procedures manual. Internal questions have been raised as to whether, following skirmishes Sunday, Thomas issued another request after being directed to maintain a peaceful environment.

    The union issued a statement this week placing the responsibility for the UC police response in the hands of “campus leadership,” saying the strategic direction was controlled by administrators. The three sources said, however, that such direction to prepare a plan, with enough officers to ensure safety, was given to Thomas multiple times.

    The attack began Tuesday about 10:30 p.m., when a large group of agitators — some wearing black outfits and white masks — arrived on campus and assaulted campers, ripped down barricades, hurled objects at the encampment and those inside and threw firecrackers into the area.

    Campers, some holding lumber and wearing goggles and helmets, rallied to defend the site’s perimeter. Some used pepper spray to defend themselves. Several were injured, including four Daily Bruin student journalists.

    Only a few on-duty UCLA police officers were on hand to protect the encampment, one source told The Times. Thomas told the Daily Bruin his officers came under attack while helping an injured woman and had to leave.

    Law enforcement sources said it took time for the LAPD, California Highway Patrol and other agencies to mobilize the large number of officers needed. A larger force began moving into the area after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and fully contained the situation after 3 a.m.

    UCLA declared the encampment unlawful Tuesday and asked participants to leave or face possible discipline. The next day, the campus called in police, who dismantled tents and arrested more than 200 protesters in clashes early Thursday that lasted for hours. Several protesters were injured.

    The UC Board of Regents held a closed-door meeting Friday to discuss the campus protests.

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    Teresa Watanabe

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  • After UCLA camp is razed, some fear pro-Palestinian momentum has waned

    After UCLA camp is razed, some fear pro-Palestinian momentum has waned

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    With the help of bulldozers, items including tents, chairs and yoga mats were removed Thursday morning from the UCLA encampment occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters and shoved into a large gray dumpster.

    Packages of unopened plastic water bottles lay on the grass. Nearby, two white trucks held pieces of wood that had been used by protesters to barricade the camp. A group of four UCLA graduate students walked over to Dickson Court, the area on campus where the encampment once stood, carrying medical masks and other supplies for protesters, only to learn the camp had been taken down.

    They decided they would give the donations to one of the other Southern California universities with encampments.

    Such camps have spread to college campuses across the nation in a student movement unlike any other this century. Protesters are calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza. On Tuesday, police arrested at least 25 protesters at Cal Poly Humboldt, where war demonstrators had taken over buildings, spurring school officials to close campus.

    “I think it’s really important to stand up for what you believe in,” said a 29-year-old UCLA graduate student who requested anonymity because of the fear of reprisals. “I’ve been here a few times to give donations to people here in the encampment, and every single time, people have met me with grace and a lot of respect.”

    She and her friends have brought donations of water, chips, masks and protective eyewear to the protesters throughout the week.

    “I feel honored that our school is partaking in something that’s making a difference, hopefully,” said a 24-year-old graduate student who was part of the group.

    Outside Dickson Court, pro-Israeli students also gathered to watch the clean-up process.

    A 20-year-old UCLA undergrad, who requested anonymity because he said he feared being attacked, participated in a counterprotest on Sunday. A crowd of people from the Jewish community gathered in front of the camp and sang the Israeli national anthem, brought out a DJ and held a dance party, he said.

    The undergrad, who said he is Jewish, was disheartened by the encampment, he said. But he stressed that he didn’t participate in any of the other counterdemonstrations and condemned the violence that began Tuesday night just before midnight.

    Over several hours, counterdemonstrators hurled objects — including wood and a metal barrier — at those inside. Fireworkers were launched into the camp, and some counterprotesters tried to force their way in. Fights broke out, and the pro-Palestinian side used pepper spray to defend themselves.

    “It was deplorable,” the undergrad said of the attack on the encampment. Violent counterprotesters “need to be punished under the maximum extent of the law. They do not represent our movement, and as such they must be punished for not acting in accordance with the law and the values they purport to uphold.”

    He said he’d lost a lot of friends since the Israel-Hamas war broke out because of their different perspectives.

    “It’s unfortunate because, for me, this is quite personal because I am from the Middle East,” he said. “I have family in Israel, I have family in Iran, and seeing the chaos break out in the region where my ancestry is from, it’s cutting to see individuals who have no connection to the ongoing violence say that I don’t know what I’m talking about or they can’t be friends with me because of their political stance.”

    With the camp now razed, some protesters told The Times on Thursday they feared the pro-Palestinian protest’s momentum in Westwood might have stalled.

    “There’s a lot of anger and frustration and desire to keep protesting, but we’re really still figuring out what that would look like,” said a 19-year-old UCLA freshman who declined to give her name.

    Many seemed eager to return to protesting at UCLA, though what awaited them was unclear. A current and former student from Occidental College said they’d heeded “a call for bodies” at UCLA put out Wednesday night but figured they wouldn’t be called again with the encampment gone.

    Some staff seemed more optimistic the protests would quickly be revived.

    “I might go back on Friday,” said a staff member who was arrested Thursday, though she noted her plans might be dampened by sleep deprivation. When she was arrested, she said she was standing with 10 to 15 faculty or staff who were booked along with her.

    Like many on Friday, the staff member declined to give her name due to fear of retaliation from the university, saying she worked in a part of the school where some colleagues seemed wary of the protests.

    Some students said they were unclear whether they would face academic repercussions from protesting — although they said they’d seen some unambiguous emails from the university saying there could be “disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion.”

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    Summer Lin, Rebecca Ellis

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