Protests at UCLA over the war in Gaza have largely been peaceful. However, there were intense, and sometimes violent, altercations between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators over the weekend. Campus officials say a barrier separating the two groups was breached.
The atmosphere was fairly peaceful that afternoon, says Dylan Winward, UCLA features and student life editor for The Daily Bruin. That changed in the evening after the breach.
“It led to the first violent altercation that we've seen at UCLA. On Sunday, there were then four different groups demonstrating on campus. Barriers were breached, and it led to some violence between the two groups. We've reported that there was someone with blood on their face, and one of our reporters got punched … by demonstrators.”
Winward says UCLA’s administration is keen on fulfilling their commitment to students’ rights of free speech and demonstrations, and the university emphasizes that it is not going to preemptively call the police to address the encampment.
Each side has different demands, Winward says. Among pro-Palestinian demonstrators are “divestment, the university breaking ties with the LA Police Department, and also an academic boycott of Israeli universities, so a severing of UCLA ties with those universities as well for things like research.”
He continues, “On the other side, the demonstration appears mainly to be advocating to the university to protect Jewish students against antisemitism, which they say has been rampant on this campus since October, but also in particular with the encampment. Many of the organizers yesterday were keen to emphasize that their demonstration was a show of support for Jewish students.”
Winward says he is not aware of specific antisemitic targeting on campus, although he points out that it doesn’t mean that hasn’t taken place.