The conflict between Israel and Palestine has spilled over onto the streets of the United States, as supporters of Israel attacked a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
The violence was captured on video, showing people using sticks and poles to hammer makeshift barricades protecting the pro-Palestinian protesters. The police were eventually deployed to quell the violence.
Anti-Israeli sentiment sparks student activism
In another part of the country, the New York police arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had holed up in a building at Columbia University. The protests in New York have been blamed on outsiders by Mayor Eric Adams, who said that around 300 people had been arrested. However, there has been no concrete evidence to support this claim.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has sparked the largest student activism in the US since the anti-racism protests of 2020. Protests have spread to dozens of schools across the country, expressing opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza. However, this has led to police intervention to clear protests.
The conflict has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians and obliterated much of the enclave’s infrastructure. It has also created a humanitarian crisis verging on famine. The student protests in the United States have also taken on political overtones in the run-up to the presidential election in November. With Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.
The UCLA protesters have reported violent attacks that included people who were not affiliated with their campus. Footage shows mostly male counter-demonstrators, many of them masked and some apparently older than students, throwing objects and trying to smash or pull down the wooden and steel barriers erected to shield the encampment.
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Some screamed pro-Jewish comments as pro-Palestinian protesters tried to fight them off. The violence has escalated to a level where the pro-Palestinian protesters are being violently attacked by counter-protesters. The situation is disappointing because the pro-Palestinian protesters are being seen as the perpetrators when they are not.
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