US campus protests: ‘horrific violence’ as rival groups clash in Los Angeles – live updates | US campus protests

Police in riot gear have arrived on the UCLA campus, according to multiple reports.

According to Reuters, people were throwing things and pushing and kicking each other. Some armed with sticks beat others. At one point, a group converged on one man who was lying on the ground, kicking and beating them until others pulled them out of the fray.

The clashes took place right outside a tent camp where pro-Palestinian protesters had erected barricades and plywood for protection – and counter-protesters tried to knock them down. Police cars were seen nearby, but officers did not immediately intervene.

Fireworks were set off and objects were thrown in footage shown by KABC.

The clashes began in the early hours of Wednesday, shortly after Gene Block, UCLA’s chancellor, said the pro-Palestinian camp on campus was “illegal” and said students who remained there would face disciplinary action.

Aerial footage from ABC affiliate KABC shows people brandishing sticks or stakes to attack wooden planks held up as a makeshift barricade to protect pro-Palestinian protesters, some holding placards or umbrellas. Reuters reports.

Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor, released a statement via email about the unrest. “There were horrific acts of violence in the camp that night and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual assistance,” she said. “The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sick of this senseless violence and it must stop.”

We’re resuming our live coverage of the campus protests in the US, where clashes between rival protest groups have erupted on the UCLA campus over the past few hours. Reports on social media said the violence began when pro-Israel demonstrators began attacking the pro-Palestinian camp overnight.

Tensions rose Tuesday night after university administrators announced for the first time that a pro-Palestinian camp on campus was illegal.

This is where we stop our live broadcast. If you want to read more, the Guardian’s full report on the arrests made at Columbia University can be found here.

It’s 2 a.m. in New York City — that’s how things stand after police stormed the campuses of two universities and arrested a number of protesters.

• Hundreds of New York City police officers entered the Columbia grounds shortly after 9:00 p.m to detain and disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who took over Hamilton Hall, a campus building.

• A long line of policemen were seen climbing into the occupied building through a second floor window. Police loaded at least 50 detainees into buses, each with their hands tied behind their backs.

• Less than three hours after police entered Columbia, the campus was cleared of protesters. A police spokesman said “dozens” of arrests had been made.

• A statement released by Columbia said officers arrived on campus after the university requested assistance. “After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized and locked down, we were left with no choice,” the school’s statement said, adding that school public safety officers were forced to leave the building and a worker at the facilities was “threatened”. The university has requested that police remain on campus until mid-May.

• The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters defied a 2pm deadline on Monday to leave their camp in Columbia or front suspension. The university immediately began suspending student participation. University officials on Tuesday threatened the students who took over Hamilton Hall with academic expulsion.

• At an evening news briefing hours before police entered Columbia, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the takeover of Hamilton Hall was instigated by “outside agitators.” who have no connection to Colombia and are known to law enforcement to provoke lawlessness. Some protesters in Colombia denied that claim.

• A university spokesman also reiterated that the group that “invaded and occupied the building” is run by individuals “not affiliated with the university”.

• Dozens of arrests were also reported at City College of New York, where a camp had been located since Thursday. Some students are known to have left the Columbia University campus when the arrests began there and moved north to join the sit-in.

• New York Congressman Jamal Bowman said he was “outraged” by the level of police presence at Columbia and other New York universities. Bowman called on Columbia’s administration to stop “the dangerous escalation before it causes further harm” and allow faculty to return to campus.

• Elsewhere, police quelled a pro-Palestinian demonstration at California State Polytechnic UniversityHumboldtearly Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.

• More than 1,000 demonstrators protesting the conflict in Gaza have been arrested in the past two weekson campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after violent clashes with police in riot gear.

Brown University reaches settlement with students protesting war in Gaza this would prompt them to remove their camp from the school grounds in exchange for the institution considering withdrawing from Israel.

In a statement, Brown President Christina Paxson said the students agreed to end their protests, clean up their encampment and “refrain from further actions that would violate Brown’s code of conduct for the remainder of the school year.”

In turn, “five students will be invited to meet with five members of the Brown University Corporation in May to present their case for divesting Brown’s endowment from ‘companies that enable and profit from the genocide in Gaza.’

The board will vote on the proposal in October.

“We’re done [the encampment] knowing that we scored a huge victory for the sale of Brown, for this international movement and a victory for the people of Palestine,” said Brown student Leo Corzo-Clark.

The move represents the first major concession by a US university amid relentless student protests that have paralyzed campuses.

In a letter to the NYPD asking for help at the college, the City College of New York said the protesters ignored requests and their behavior disrupted campus safety.

Sharing X’s request, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the protesters’ actions raise serious concerns about the safety of university communities.

Let me be very clear. New Yorkers will not tolerate lawlessness. Our officers will continue to protect the public with the utmost professionalism.

A striking feature of the New York college protests is how many student protesters say they are unwilling to speak to the press because they have not been “media trained.”

Pressed by their reluctance, some CUNY protesters said the media had underreported and distorted what was happening, both in terms of the Israel-Hamas war and the international protests against Israel that followed.

“All we’re saying is that we’re not happy that university tuition fees are being used to fund wars and we want to see what we can do about it, but without violence,” said one protester.

Others at CUNY were not impressed with the treatment of law enforcement.

“They are human beings too,” said a demonstrator. “They follow orders. Who do they call when there’s a shooting?”

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry posted a video on X of officers tearing down a Palestinian flag at the City College of New York (CUNY) and raising an American flag in its place.

Daughtry previously confirmed that police were on the CUNY campus after the university asked them to help disperse the protesters.

In the post sharing the video, Daughtry described a “proud moment” in which police restored order and raised “Old Glory” on the campus flagpole.

The New York Times reports that police have arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the City College of New York (CUNY). An NYPD official confirmed that CUNY requested that police enter the campus to disperse the protesters.

Tensions at the university rose throughout the evening — and some students were understood to have left the Columbia campus when the arrests began there and moved north to join the sit-in at CUNY.

The camp at the state college, part of the City University of New York system, has been ongoing since Thursday, and students attempted to occupy an academic building earlier Tuesday.

The incoming images show a large police presence outside the CUNY campus.