The protests over the Middle East conflict are increasingly degenerating at US universities. The protest camp at the University of California in Los Angeles is now to be evacuated.
A large police force is preparing to clear a protest camp of pro-Palestinian activists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hundreds of emergency services took up positions on the campus of the renowned university after dark on Wednesday and used loudspeakers to call on the demonstrators to clear the area. Activists armed themselves with helmets, protective goggles and respirators, as could be seen on TV images.
Hundreds of sympathizers gathered outside the tent camp, drumming and chanting “Shame on you” as the police approached. Some waved Palestinian flags, many wore the traditional Palestinian scarf.
The university management had previously ordered the camp to be disbanded. Violent clashes broke out on Wednesday night when a masked group of presumably pro-Israel counter-demonstrators attacked the tent camp with sticks and poles. University officials blamed unspecified “instigators” for the fracas and announced an investigation. Until the incident, the activists at the tent camp that was set up last week had behaved largely peacefully.
Late on Tuesday evening, the New York police had already broken up a pro-Palestinian protest camp on the campus of the elite Columbia University. There have also been numerous actions in solidarity with the Palestinians at other American universities. The reason is the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas.
