UCLA protest camp cleared in predawn raid

Hundreds of helmeted police muscled into a central plaza of the University of California at Los Angeles yesterday to dismantle a pro-Palestinian protest camp attacked the previous night by supporters of Israel.

The predawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint for mounting tensions on US college campuses, where protests over Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza have led to student clashes with each other and law enforcement.

Live TV footage showed about six protesters under arrest, kneeling on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs with zip-ties.

Dozens of loud explosions were heard during the clash from flash-bang charges, or stun grenades.

Demonstrators, some in hard hats, goggles and respirator masks and carrying makeshift shields and umbrellas, sought to block the officers' advance by their sheer numbers, while shouting, "push them back" and flashing bright lights in the eyes of the police.

Around sunset on Wednesday, officers in tactical gear had begun filing onto the campus, after the university declared the encampment unlawful, and taking up positions adjacent to a complex of tents occupied by demonstrators.

An estimated 300 to 500 protesters were hunkered down inside the camp, while 2,000 more had gathered outside the barricades.

The assembled police stood by on the periphery for hours before urging people to clear the protest zone and finally moving in.

An initial group of officers who briefly entered a corner of the camp were overwhelmed by demonstrators and forced to retreat, before reinforcements arrived by the busload about an hour later.

The police action came a day after New York City officers arrested pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a Columbia University building and removed a tent city from its campus. Some 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York were arrested.

The clashes at UCLA and in New York were part of the biggest outpouring of US student activism since the anti-racism rallies and marches of 2020.

Ninety protesters were arrested at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire on Wednesday.