- Written by James Fitzgerald
- bbc news
Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators clashed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as demonstrations over the Gaza war continued across US campuses.
The nationwide rallies, which resulted in hundreds of arrests, showed no signs of slowing down over the weekend.
At UCLA, “a physical altercation broke out” after a barrier separating the two sides was breached, officials said.
The White House insists the demonstrations must be peaceful.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council told ABC that the US government respects the rights of protesters in the Israel-Gaza war.
However, John Kirby told the ABC on Sunday that he repeatedly condemned reported anti-Semitic incidents and “any hate speech or threats of violence”.
The pro-Palestinian camp has grown in size at UCLA in recent days, as has a group of pro-Israel counterprotesters.
The Israeli American Council (IAC) organized a counter-demonstration. The administration recently said it was “deeply concerned” about anti-Semitism reported elsewhere, including at Columbia University.
Many pro-Palestinian protesters have sought to distance themselves from anti-Semitic incidents, in some cases blaming outside agitators.
The two groups at UCLA remained peaceful until Sunday, when campus police with batons separated them from pushing, shoving and punching each other, according to Reuters.
It was not immediately clear which group had breached the wall separating them.
The university said it was “saddened by the act of violence that occurred,” adding that additional safety measures had been put in place in response.
Tensions at U.S. universities have escalated following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and retaliatory Israeli military attacks that killed more than 34,000 people in the Gaza Strip.
Violence has erupted across the country in the past two weeks, with university authorities and law enforcement struggling to contain it. They blame outside groups for infiltrating the demonstrations.
The movement appears to have received a boost after more than 100 protesters were arrested after police were called to clear an encampment at Columbia University in New York City.
Since then, hundreds of people have been arrested across the country, many of them pitching their own tents on university grounds.
Protesters are demanding a ceasefire in the conflict and for universities, many of which have large endowments, to sever economic ties with or separate from Israel.
They claim that companies doing business in or with the State of Israel are complicit in the ongoing Gaza war, as are the institutions that invest in those companies. .
Authorities are also scrambling to respond to suspected anti-Semitic incidents, with many Jewish students expressing concerns for their safety.
On some campuses, they described incidents ranging from chants and signs supporting Hamas, a terrorist organization banned in the United States, to physical altercations and perceived threats. .
Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, reported “violent anti-Semitic slurs” in a statement Saturday and accused “professional organizers with no connection to Northeastern University” of infiltrating student protests.
It added that more than 100 people were detained.
Other recent trends include:
- Among the hundreds of other activists arrested over the weekend was Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who was detained along with about 80 others at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Protesters at Yale University set up a new camp after the previous one was cleared by police, the student newspaper reported.
- California State Polytechnic State University becomes the latest institution to require students to switch to virtual classes