California police flatten pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA, arrest protesters ( www.reuters.com )

Hundreds of helmeted police swarmed the site of a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of California at Los Angeles early on Thursday, firing flash bangs, arresting defiant demonstrators and dismantling their encampment.

The pre-dawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint in mounting tensions on U.S. college campuses, where protests over Israel's war in Gaza have led to student clashes with each other and with law enforcement.

"I'm a student here. I'm an English major," one student said to television cameras, as police dragged him away. "Please don't fail us. Don't fail us."

Live TV footage showed officers taking down tents, tearing apart barricades and removing the encampment, while arrested protesters sat with their hands restrained behind their backs with zip-ties.

Rentlar ,

UCLA CRACKDOWN CAME DAY AFTER VIOLENT CLASH

UCLA had canceled classes for the day on Wednesday following a violent clash between the encampment's occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted a surprise assault late Tuesday night on the tent city.

The occupants of the camp, set up last week, had remained mostly peaceful before the melee, in which both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray.

It's an excellent analogue to what's going on in West Bank and Gaza. Violent Israeli settlers attack a peaceful Palestian camp, there is resistance to the aggression, then the big guns arrive to defend the Israelis and do the rest of the work to raid, displace, arrest and/or kill the Palestinian side.

DancingBear ,

Breaking news, Violent pro Palestinian student protestors assault riot police fists with their faces. More at six!

Biden condemns the violence.

This is America. Land of the fascists and home of the corporate oligarchs and military industrial complex.

Crikeste ,

And remember, you HAVE to vote for Biden. None of this happened under his administration.

SlightlyAut ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the moderator]

    •
    EvilEyedPanda ,

    I can't wait to see him lose again, so more trumptards can get arrested when they pull another half cocked insurrection

    jumjummy ,

    Yes because Biden directed the police personally. Youā€™re thinking of what Trump would do since he would just tweet directly at the police and tell them not to be gentle with the protestors.

    Trump would be 1000% worse so stop with the ā€œdonā€™t vote for Biden and let Trump winā€ Russian propoganda.

    DancingBear ,

    Hate to break it to you but I donā€™t think Biden is going to win this election unfortunately. It would probably help if he stopped spitting in liberalsā€™ faces, but I donā€™t think heā€™ll do it.

    Maggoty ,

    He came out and made a big statement about how we "need order".

    So yeah, couldn't be more clear.

    goferking0 ,

    Wonder if/when he'll condemn the police brutality

    DancingBear ,

    (He wonā€™t)

    misspacific ,
    @misspacific@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    i cannot believe they think we are stupid enough to accept that shooting rubber bullets at unarmed student protestors on public property is justified and morally correct.

    paternalistic bullshit like that breeds hatred and contempt; they are making their own enemies in order to justify more crackdowns, and more fascist behavior.

    it's dark, but it will pass. i hope for the better.

    Arbiter ,

    It wonā€™t pass on its own though, collective political action is required to make it pass.

    ech ,

    Paternalistic?

    SlightlyAut ,

    Was quite a sight to behold. Love it.

    Nation

    Anti_Iridium ,

    It especially pisses me off that they aren't even using them correctly.

    They are not direct fire, you're supposed to bounce them off the ground.

    blusterydayve26 ,

    If youā€™re trying to use them correctly. Otherwise, theyā€™re just ā€œless lethalā€ and easier to deploy.

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/02/eye-hunting-cairo-militarys-assault-reporters

    TexMexBazooka ,

    Was it public property?

    Madison420 ,

    It receives federal funds so yes in a limited way it is. Doesn't matter though because they have rights as a paying customer redressing both the government and their school.

    Hacksaw ,

    Public property as we knew it in the 60's has been completely privatised. Our legal system definitions of public spaces haven't caught up with the modern reality of these spaces so let's not defend police brutality with this "was it REALLY a public space" semantic bullshit.

    TexMexBazooka ,

    Iā€™m not defending anything, itā€™s just an important distinction

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    UCLA is a public university. They have a right to protest there!

    nondescripthandle ,

    Not against the militaries interests they don't, welcome to America

    KevonLooney ,

    They don't. All UC Campuses are private property of the UC Regents. Just because something is owned by the state, that doesn't mean there are no rules. A courtroom is a good example. These students have no legal right to camp there without permission.

    A better question is, does this eviction diffuse the issue? I would say "no". The campers will be back anyway. But I also think the camping is distracting from the actual point of the protest. Why don't these students just sleep in their beds and show up everyday to protest? Why do they need to be there at night when nobody sees them?

    something_random_tho ,

    Their strategy is very clearly making the university uncomfortable and getting the entire nation discussing it, so I'd say it's working pretty well so far.

    Manos ,

    Their strategy is being performative, whiny shits for tiktok videos. They have no clue what they're talking about, or the context for the current situation. Just more terminally online lefties that would rather camp out than go to class.

    The nation was already discussing Israel-Palestine, these people are just being self-indulgent and making it about themselves. They don't give a shit about Palestinians unless it's trending.

    something_random_tho ,

    ok boomer

    Mac ,

    curious as to what your strategy was in relation to having made this dumb comment

    ultranaut ,

    All UC Campuses are private property of the UC Regents.

    That doesn't sound right. The University of California system is public, the regents are appointed by the governor. UC property is owned by the state of California.

    theareciboincident ,

    Iā€™m not sure what to tell you other than youā€™re straight up wrong, mate. I agree that they should be public property 100% but thatā€™s not what the law says, unjust or otherwise.

    UC property is owned by a public trust, which is a private entity, therefore the land is private property.

    Again Iā€™m not saying I like it but unless the law changes, the state may enforce it with their monopoly on violence.

    The question is, what can oppressed people do against a tyrannical government when peaceful protest is met with violence?

    The answer is not allowed.

    ultranaut ,

    A public trust is not a private entity, that's why it's called a public trust. What you're claiming about the UC system doesn't make sense. The power the regents wield flows from the governor and that's it, the UC system is not privately owned.

    BradleyUffner ,

    By that logic the public owns all the police cars too, but you're going to have a bad day if you decide to take one.

    ultranaut ,

    Yes. The police have not been privatized yet, all the police cars are in fact owned by the public.

    BradleyUffner ,

    You missed my main point, where even though the public could be considered the owner of police cars, you can't just take one and do whatever you want with it.

    Maggoty ,

    There's a giant difference between a court room and a glorified park. There is not a security concern at the university's green space.

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    There are still time, place and manner restrictions on protests at a public university.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    I didn't realize there was a time, place and manner for us to freely express ourselves in protest. I thought it was an American thing to protest. Not anymore I guess.

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    Even first amendment rights are not unlimited. Regardless of how you feel, itā€™s just a simple constitutional matter. This is like middle school civics stuff.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Public universities are public property and publicly funded. There is a right to protest there.

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    With reasonable restrictions on time, place and matter decided by the university.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    If they are paying to go to the university and I'm paying taxes for them to go to the university, why does the university get to decide that they aren't allowed to exercise their first amendment rights?

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    They are allowed to express their first amendment rights, but first amendment rights are not unlimited. See Ward v Rock Against Racism (1989) where the Supreme Court developed a test for time-place-manner restrictions.

    You can disagree with the law and very well established Supreme Court precedent, but you canā€™t generally argue that the universities are violating the law by creating time, place and manner restrictions for free speech (unless they are failing the time-place-manner test).

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    In an opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to a New York City regulation that mandated the use of city-provided sound systems and technicians to control the volume of concerts in New York City's Central Park. The Court found that the city had a substantial interest in limiting excessive noise and the regulation was "content neutral." The court found that "narrow tailoring" would be satisfied if the regulation promoted a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively without the regulation.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_v._Rock_Against_Racism

    What on earth does that have to do with protesting on college campuses?

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    Thatā€™s a pretty shitty Wikipedia article, honestly.

    Try: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/time-place-and-manner-restrictions/

    FlyingSquid , (edited )
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    You really think this was content neutral? The day before protesting at Indiana University started, they passed a new regulation barring protest camps in a field where there had been protest camps since the 1960s. I was in one in 1991 to protest the Gulf War. Then in 2024 they arrested 33 students and put a sniper on the roof.

    This was absolutely not content neutral.

    Also, what alternative avenues of communications do these students have to let their universities understand exactly what they are demanding?

    Eyeuhnluuung ,

    Is unequivocally content neutral to initiate a new place restriction before any content is expressed in that place. If they subsequently allow other protests in that place, but continue to restrict Gaza protests in that place, then it is not content neutral.

    Your second question is either disingenuous or involved zero actual effort on your end, or both. Obviously this is an emotional subject, but it doesnā€™t absolve from using critical thinking.

    Iā€™m not sure itā€™s helpful to continue, take care.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Making a rule because you know a protest is about to happen is the opposite of neutral.

    I'm not surprised you dismissed the second question since it's obvious it doesn't pass that test.

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