First ever violent protest at UCLA, by Pro-Palestinians

Mary Osako, the vice-chancellor of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) appeared in front of the media and gave a gist of the entire protest that took place at the campus, following the Israel-Palestinian conflict. From its inception to the end, Osako has highlighted all the mishaps that happened in the campus.

It’s not a new fact to learn that due to the conflict, the protests are already being undertaken by the students at various universities in the U.S. But UCLA, which used to be renowned for peaceful protest, has suddenly come to light after this violence.

How did it all start?

Osako revealed that a barrier was deployed between two factions for the purpose of preventing the protests. The situation worsened when the protesters broke the barrier in order to enter the campus and started shouting slogans, along with vandalizing the building.

It was really a hard struggle to control the situation but the campus police had somehow managed to do it by using batons and separated the groups from each other. Surprisingly, no arrests have been made by the Los Angeles police, and their involvement in tackling this situation was also not there. Even they did not consider it necessary to remain present at the spot during the protest.

The Motive Behind The Protest

Some organizations like the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Stand in Support of Jewish Students revealed that for undertaking this protest, they partnered with the Israeli-American Council and decided to oppose hatred and antisemitism on campus. To eliminate these two elements, the overall plan was made to support the rights of students.

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The Proceeding Struggle

Taking note of the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not able to garner the attention of people, several  protests have been undertaken by the students at college campuses across the U.S. A lot of protesters were arrested from the Columbia University, Washington University, California, Texas, Atlanta, Boston, following their efforts to bring people’s attention towards the humanitarian crisis prevailing in Gaza.

After dozens of hardships and arrests, U.S. President Joe Biden finally took a glimpse of the whole situation. Following his insight, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that the President has expressed sensitivity towards this cause, he condemns the antisemitism and hate speech and also highlighted that several American citizens possess deep sentiments about the ongoing war in Gaza.