Groups of pro-Israel protesters dressed in black and wearing white masks clashed last night with students installed in a camp at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to protest Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
Clashes broke out at the pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA, hours after the university announced that the camp "is illegal and violates university policy" and warned that students who do not leave would face possible suspension or expulsion, the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
The camp of supporters of the end of the war in Gaza was set up a few weeks ago, as has happened on other university campuses throughout the United States.
Shortly before midnight local time, a large group of counterprotesters, dressed in black suits and white masks, arrived on campus and attempted to tear down the barricades surrounding the pro-Palestinian camp. There were also reports of fireworks and objects being thrown at the camp.
The campers, some with wooden sticks, gathered to defend the perimeter of the camp, indicated the Los Angeles newspaper, which assured that the violence unleashed in the last few hours is the most serious experienced on the campus since the counterprotesters, who support Israel, , set up a mourning zone near where anti-Gaza war protesters are camping.
After midnight, some tried to enter the camp and campers used pepper spray to defend themselves, while security guards watched the clashes, reports the Los Angeles Times. Later, city police responded to the university's "request for help," the mayor's office announced.
“Horrible acts of violence occurred in the camp tonight and we immediately called the authorities for mutual support. Firefighters and medical personnel are at the scene. “We are disgusted by this senseless violence and it must end,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor of Strategic Communications at UCLA, said in a statement, according to the newspaper.
The UCLA incidents are part of the largest wave of university protests in the United States since the 1960s, in which dozens of students, teachers and staff at educational centers demand an end to Israel's actions in Gaza and that prohibit investments by companies that sell weapons or services to the Hebrew country.
In general, at the University of California the protests have been more peaceful than in other places, such as Columbia, in New York, where protesters came to take over one of the main university buildings yesterday, Tuesday, which had to be evacuated by the police.
