UCLA struggles to recover after 200 arrested, pro-Palestinian camp torn down

via latimes.com

More than 200 people were arrested Thursday morning as police moved into the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA, dismantling tents and pushing out protesters in a clash that lasted hours.

The operation capped two days of upheaval on the Westwood campus that began when UCLA declared the encampment “unlawful” and continued when a group of pro-Israel counterprotesters attacked the camp Tuesday night, with police taking hours to stop the violence.

Early Thursday morning, officers wearing body armor, helmets and face shields methodically pulled apart the barricade as protesters tried to hold together the assemblage of plywood and metal fencing. Police launched flares that arced over the encampment, igniting with piercing blasts, and smoke filled the air from fire extinguishers that demonstrators sprayed at police. At least one officer is seen on video shooting rubber bullets into the crowd.