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.

  • misspacific@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    83·
    8 months ago

    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.