When dozens of counterprotesters invaded UCLA Tuesday evening, attacking the Palestinian solidarity encampment in the center of campus, university officials were quickly overwhelmed.
Law enforcement sources told the Times there were only a few UCLA police officers on scene. They tried to put an end to the violence, but were no match for the crowd and had to retreat after being attacked themselves, the sources said.
A group of unarmed private security guards were also present. But the guards were hired primarily to protect campus buildings, not to break up fights or make arrests. So they watched the scene as it descended into chaos.
It would take many California Highway Patrol officers, Los Angeles police officers and other agencies about three hours to fully get the situation under control.
The response to the violence is now under increasing scrutiny, with many on and off campus criticizing UCLA for not better handling the violent counterprotest.
“The limited and delayed response from law enforcement on the UCLA campus last night was unacceptable – and it demands answers,” a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Wednesday.
UC President Michael V. Drake, in a letter to the University of California Board of Regents obtained by The Times, said the way the incident was handled required an outside investigation.
Protesters reinforced a barricade around the pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus on Wednesday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“There is enough confusion that I am ordering an independent external review of UCLA’s planning and actions as well as the mutual aid response” by law enforcement, he wrote in the letter . “I think such a review can answer many of my immediate questions, but also guide us for possible future events.”
Since the camp formed at UCLA on Thursday, the university has taken a rather hands-off approach to the protests.
While across town, students at the USC camp were arrested en masse by the LAPD, at UCLA, students and others inside the camp at the metal barricades were let demonstrate day and night without the police being disturbed, if at all.
Even on Sunday, when pro-Israel protesters launched a dueling rally next to the camp and there were a few scuffles, the response from uniformed police was minimal. After the rally ended, about two dozen uniformed police officers from the University of California Police and Beverly Hills Police lined up in riot gear along Portola Plaza.
Then came Tuesday night, when the university’s tactics were put to the test and tensions between pro-Palestinian students and counterprotesters boiled over into violence.
“There needs to be consequences and changes,” said David Myers, a professor of Jewish history at UCLA. “This is a total system failure, and we need to look each other in the eye and say how the hell did this happen?”
Myers said that while he applauded the leniency toward the camp students earlier in the week, he was perplexed and disheartened by the slow response by the university and law enforcement to the “onslaught.” violent” against the camp.
Myers, who was not present Tuesday evening, said he and other teachers stood between pro-Palestinian protesters and counterprotesters Sunday to prevent the two sides from clashing. He was then concerned about the lack of response from the police.
“Sunday seemed, in some way, to be a dress rehearsal for what happened on Tuesday,” he said.
The violence began around 10:30 p.m., when counterprotesters arrived at UCLA. People inside the camp quickly began pleading for help, claiming they were under attack. The counter-protesters, some wearing black and white masks, surrounded the camp and attempted to bring down the barricades, shooting fireworks at them and kicking the wooden planks around the camp.
The only people protecting the encampment and securing the area at the time were a few on-duty UCLA police officers, a source told the Times.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA on Wednesday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
John Thomas, the chief of the UCLA Police Department, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But he told the Daily Bruin his officers were attacked while helping an injured woman and had to leave. He put the number of officers at between five and six. Sources told The Times the number was four.
Part of the complication in handling the situation comes from the fact that UCLA is on state land and also operates as an independent municipal entity, meaning outside police forces generally do not enter the campus without university approval.
“This is essentially a private matter. This is the campus of UCLA. It’s the school’s decision to call the LAPD,” said Ed Obayashi, Modoc County deputy sheriff and law enforcement advisor to agencies across California.
Calling in LAPD and CHP officers can backfire and make the situation worse in some scenarios, Obayashi said.
Key questions center around when authorities decided to call on help from other agencies and whether help could have arrived sooner.
Three sources familiar with the discussions, but not authorized to speak publicly, said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and told him the university should agree to deploy the LAPD.
Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, issued a statement around 12:45 a.m. saying the university “immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid.” At 12:51 a.m., Bass said on X that the LAPD was “immediately responding to Chancellor Block’s request for support on campus.”
A source familiar with the discussions, but who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Bass strongly encouraged UCLA to deploy the LAPD.
Law enforcement sources said it took time for the LAPD, CHP and other agencies to mobilize the large number of officers needed.
Dozens of law enforcement officers began to invade the area after 1:30 a.m. Many counter-protesters then left. But some clashes continued until the operation was completely completed after 3 a.m.
Block called the incident “a dark chapter in our campus history” and said the university was “taking a hard look at our own security processes in light of recent events.”
In the wake of the violence, the LAPD is preparing mobile forces on the ground, squads of riot-helmeted officers ready to be quickly deployed if necessary, the source told the Times.
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