Violent clashes erupted on Wednesday on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) between pro-Palestinian protesters and a group of counter-demonstrators, according to live video coverage provided by a U.S. broadcaster.

The UCLA student newspaper Daily Bruin said supporters of Israel had tried to tear down a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the campus

Police were responding to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block’s request for support, Zach Seidl, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of Communications, said on X.

The Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave, have unleashed the biggest outpouring of U.S. student activism since the anti-racism protests of 2020.

Aerial footage from broadcaster KABC, an affiliate of ABC, showed people wielding sticks or poles to attack wooden boards being held up as a makeshift barricade to protect pro-Palestinian protesters, some holding placards or umbrellas.

Late on Tuesday, New York City police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators holed-up in an academic building on Columbia University campus in New York and removed a protest encampment that the Ivy League school had sought to dismantle for nearly two weeks.

Reuters, Agencies AFP