Inside UCLA’s pro-Palestinian encampment on an extended evening of violence

The noise — unsettling and dissonant — has been a relentless contained in the barricaded pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA.

Quickly after protesters, most of them college students on the Westwood campus, pitched tents on Dickson Courtroom on April 25, pro-Israel counterdemonstrators confirmed up with megaphones. Some shouted racist, homophobic and anti-Islamic slurs, in response to campers interviewed.

They arrange a large video display screen close to the camp that performed and replayed movies of Hamas militants. They broadcast a operating torrent of loud, disturbing sounds over a stereo — an eagle screeching, a toddler crying — and blasted a Hebrew rendition of the tune “Child Shark” on repeat, late at evening, in order that campers couldn’t sleep.

They returned evening after evening.

A lady kneels in prayer earlier than a line of CHP officers at a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles)

Contained in the encampment, pro-Palestinian protesters, who occupied scores of tents on the grassy expanse, stated they tried to take care of a tranquil area throughout the daylight once they felt some sense of management. They led Islamic prayers, noticed Shabbat and hosted grief circles that included breath work and trauma remedy.

“It’s nonetheless an emotional, heavy area, nevertheless it’s additionally a really open, welcoming and loving area,” stated Marie, a 28-year-old graduate scholar who, like many protesters interviewed, declined to supply her full title as a result of she feared for her security, bodily and on-line. “Sadly, we expertise the harassment and the terrorizing at evening, which may be actually upsetting.”

On Tuesday evening, Dickson Courtroom exploded into savagery and chaos. A big, largely male crowd of masked counterdemonstrators tried to interrupt into the encampment, ripping down wooden and metallic limitations, spraying bear mace, igniting stink bombs and tossing fireworks close to the camp perimeter — and in not less than one case contained in the camp.

They aimed their inexperienced lasers at camper’s faces, prompting shouts of, “Defend your eyes!”

“They attacked us from bodily and psychological fronts,” stated Mona, a third-year scholar who additionally declined to supply her final title. “The surface aggressors have been working laborious to create a harsh setting and make us really feel unsafe.”

A professional-Palestinian protester, second from proper, is assaulted by pro-Israel counterdemonstrators at a UCLA encampment.

(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)

After Tuesday’s late-night melee — and a sluggish campus response {that a} spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s workplace known as “unacceptable” — the encampment remained. And the pro-Palestinian protesters, who’re demanding divestment from Israel and an finish to the nation’s navy actions in Gaza, had been defiant.

Kaia Shah, 23, a postgraduate researcher who has acted as a spokesperson for the encampment, stated demonstrators received discover Tuesday from a college liaison that the encampment was illegal and that college students who continued to occupy the area might face suspension or expulsion.

Nonetheless, she stated, “We plan on staying right here till we get UCLA to divest.”

Shah described the scene Tuesday evening as “violent and terrifying chaos,” and stated her throat burned from inhaling all of the mace within the air. She and one other feminine demonstrator stated a number of the counterprotesters threatened to sexually assault ladies contained in the encampment.

Shah stated that, at one level, she noticed police vehicles — it was unclear from which company — pull up, flip round in a circle and depart. “The cops got here and left as we had been getting violently attacked by the Zionists,” she stated.

Dueling chants rang out.

Professional-Palestinian protesters at UCLA huddle behind a makeshift barricade underneath assault by pro-Israel counterdemonstrators.

(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)

From contained in the camp, they shouted: “Free, free Palestine!” and “Maintain the road for Palestine!”

Exterior, some counterdemonstrators screamed: “Second Nakba!” referring to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians throughout the 1948 Arab-Israeli Struggle. Others chanted: “USA! USA!”

Because the violence unfolded, Citlali, a 25-year-old from Santa Ana who works for the group Youth Set up! California and declined to supply her final title, stated she frantically texted her youthful brother, a scholar who was contained in the encampment.

“Hey are you able to reply? Are you okay?? It’s okay to retreat,” she texted.

She stated her brother was sprayed with bear mace and left the encampment Wednesday morning to clean up in his dorm room. “It’s gut-wrenching,” Citlali stated. “I couldn’t sleep till 4 a.m. when he texted me that he was OK.”

After dawn Wednesday, the UCLA chapter of College students for Justice in Palestine posted an inventory of their wants on the encampment: fuel masks, skater helmets, shields, “tremendous vibrant flashlights with strobe,” EpiPens, inhalers, scorching lunches, gluten-free meals.

Campus safety groups, college members and California Freeway Patrol officers guarded entrances to the encampment Wednesday morning.

Hannah Appel, an assistant professor of anthropology, stood at one entrance, the place folks dropped off medical provides, face masks and water bottles. Solely college students with wrist bands indicating they had been beforehand within the encampment and people who had somebody on the within vouching for them had been allowed to enter, Appel stated.

“Due to the escalated violence final evening, we’ve got to be very vigilant and cautious about who can come out and in,” Appel stated, earlier than stepping apart to let a scholar squeeze by way of the barricades.

Vanessa Muros, an archaeology researcher at UCLA, confirmed up exterior the encampment with finger symbols, maracas and a tambourine. She stated a name was despatched out to college students and college who participated in a band throughout a 2022 UC tutorial employees’ strike. The musicians had been requested to assist enhance morale on the encampment.

“Apparently morale is low in there, and taking part in music or simply making noise will assist rally folks collectively,” she stated.

Professional-Palestinian protesters conflict with pro-Israel counterdemonstrators at a UCLA encampment.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)

Muros has labored at UCLA for 19 years and stated she has by no means seen such mayhem on campus. “It’s upsetting, and I really feel just like the administration will blame the chaos on the scholars who’ve been peacefully protesting,” she stated.

Renee Tajima-Peña, a senior college member, stood in a line exterior Royce Corridor to make a donation for the protesters: photo voltaic cellphone chargers, a poncho, some respirators.

“The story has been that each one these college students are irresponsible or inflicting issues,” she stated. “I train right here and this encampment has been stunning.”

Tajima-Peña was on campus Sunday when campers tussled with pro-Israel counterdemonstrators, who, she stated, spit at college students and shouted racial slurs.

“I used to be shoved by a man a foot taller than me,” she stated. “One other girl, a colleague of mine, additionally received shoved by some man.

“However the college students — they had been so stoic. They didn’t need to interact and didn’t need to escalate. I used to be so proud.”

Occasions workers author Safi Nazzal contributed to this report.