Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA

Law enforcement officers on Thursday morning began dismantling the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" at UCLA and making arrests of demonstrators.

UCLA police on Wednesday evening declared the encampment an unlawful assembly and ordered demonstrators to disperse, according to ABC 7 Los Angeles.

When the demonstrators refused, officers from the California Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies arrived, some in tactical gear, at the campus at about 1 a.m. They began gradually dismantling barriers around the encampment, then taking down tents and arresting demonstrators. Only a few demonstrators appeared to remain by about 5:30 a.m. 

The encampment was centered at the University of California Los Angeles' Dickson Plaza, according to the Daily Bruin, the school's student newspaper.

UCLA had requested assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department, as well as other state and local law enforcement agencies, "after reports of violent clashes between protesters" on Wednesday, police said. While officers intervened to separate the groups of protesters, no arrests occurred at the time, nor were any officers injured.

Video shows the scene was far more violent Thursday morning, as multiple bangs went off off while protesters chanted: "We're not scared!"

The exact number of arrests at UCLA is unclear as of Thursday morning, but it is the latest campus to see a crackdown on anti-Israel encampments, following similar moves at Columbia University and other schools across the nation.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.