US Campus Protests: Rival Gaza Protest Groups Clash at UCLA

International News On The Ongoing Pro-Palestinian Protests – US Campus Protests: Rival Gaza Protest Groups Clash at UCLA

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel organizations battled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as protests against the Gaza conflict continue on US campuses.

Over the weekend, nationwide marches continued unabated, with hundreds more arrests.

According to a UCLA official, “physical altercations broke out” when a barrier between the two sides was broken.

The White House has demanded that protesters stay calm.

According to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the US administration recognizes protesters’ freedom to demonstrate over the Israel-Gaza conflict.

However, he criticized the alleged antisemitic acts, as well as “all the hate speech and threats of violence out there”.

A pro-Palestinian campsite at UCLA has recently expanded, as has a gathering of pro-Israeli counter-protesters.

The Israeli American Council (IAC) organized the counter-protest. It recently expressed “profound concern” about antisemitic incidents recorded abroad, particularly at Columbia University in New York City.

Many pro-Palestinian demonstrators who talked with the BBC there attempted to disassociate themselves from antisemitic actions. In some situations, they accused outside agitators.

In a letter acquired by Axios, a group of 21 Democratic members of Congress has urged Columbia to remove the “unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus”. Similar appeals to action have primarily come from the Republican side of the political divide.

Columbia President Dr. Minouche Shafik issued a new statement on Monday, stating that “alternative internal options to end this crisis” were being discussed after discussions between protest organizers and the institution failed to provide a resolution.

According to Reuters, at least some of the protesters engaging in UCLA’s disturbances looked to be from outside the campus.

The two groups remained quiet until Sunday, when campus police used batons to separate them after they pushed and shoved one other and traded blows.

It was unclear which gang had broken through the barrier between them. “We are heartbroken by the violence that has broken out,” the institution stated, adding that additional security measures had been implemented.

Tensions rose in US campuses following the 7 October Hamas attack, which killed over 1,200 people in Israel, and the response Israeli military operation, which killed over 34,000 people in Gaza.

Over the last two weeks, a countrywide rebellion has erupted, which university administrators and police enforcement have fought to quell. They have accused outside parties of infiltrating the demonstrations.

The arrest of more than 100 protesters at Columbia after police were summoned to evict an encampment appears to have boosted the movement’s confidence.

Hundreds of individuals have been detained around the United States, many of whom had set up their own tents on university campuses. The demonstrations have now moved to Canada, with a pro-Palestinian camp of roughly 20 tents being set up on the grounds of Montreal’s McGill University.

Activists in both nations are calling for a cease-fire in the conflict, and a divestment from Israel by their institutions, many of which have large endowments.

They claim that firms doing business in or with Israel are involved in the country’s continuous conflict with Gaza, as are institutions that invest in such companies.

Officials in the United States have also hurried to address reported antisemitic acts, with some Jewish students expressing concerns about their safety.

Several schools have reported events ranging from chanting and placards supporting Hamas, a US-prohibited terror group, to physical altercations and perceived threats.

READ ALSO: Blinken Heads To The Middle East For Talks on Gaza Regional Security