Pro-Palestinian encampment protest at UCLA ‘quite tense’ • FRANCE 24 English

Pro-Palestinian encampment protest at UCLA ‘quite tense’ • FRANCE 24 English

France 24’s Wasim corne is at UCLA what’s the situation there Wasim all have a good morning uh it is quite tense here at UCLA this morning this evening rather but it really depends where you are on campus the people who uh were here last night in the encampment that was attacked by that uh pro-israeli Mob they are still uh really if they spent most of the day erecting new barricades because they were trying to prepare for any sort of possibility throughout the tonight because there is a very real possibility to see some kind of police action in the next few hours we’ve had police helicopters here circling over campus for several hours now we have hundreds of officers somewhere on campus in circling campus rather uh in potential preparation for some sort of evacuation of that encampment but here you can see behind me I’m down the stairs uh behind that quad where the the encampment is located and here it’s a very joyful atmosphere there have been calls going on uh calls going on throughout campus throughout the day uh via social media via texting saying uh they needed more manpower well not certainly not not necessarily Manpower but more people to show support and these people are not part of the encampment but they’re here to show support to that encampment basically sending out a message to police officers that they are here to support uh their their uh their uh the people who are up in the encampments in those tents just a few meters above them and um of of course regarding that uh attack by counter protesters yesterday there has been strong criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department by both the mayor of Los Angeles and also California governor Gavin mum about that uh can you tell us more about [Music] that yeah I mean to to remind viewers uh it took police almost 3 hours to even show up on campus after those uh that that attack on the pro Palestine Camp started and then it took police another 1 hour to 90 minutes approximately before they started actually clearing that area where there had been clashes so just completely uh unexplainable in in a country where police forces are known to be very reactive uh so yes we do know that it took a while for UCLA authorities UCLA police Los Angeles Police Department the California Highway Patrol to decide on what kind of police response they wanted to give uh I know that there according to the Los Angeles Times there were conversation that lasted for a couple of hours because the UCLA did not initially want any police to show up in in uh riot gear uh they’ve then finally accepted a larger police presence and then it took time for CHP California Highway Patrol and the LAPD to bring enough manpower and then to decide how they were going to operate but in the meantime Pro Palestinian protesters were being injured by the dozens many of them were injured by projectiles by pepper spray one of them was taken to hospital with a head injury and this was all being broadcast live on local television so you can imagine why there is a lot of criticism that this was allowed to unfold for so long and uh the police are surrounding the camp there there is this order to clear it the students Camp there are saying that they will not be moved uh what are their demands I’m sorry could you repeat that question uh the students camped there are saying that they will not be moved uh what are their demands so their their demands they they’ve been the same that we’ve seen for the past few weeks across campuses across the United States they want uh C University campuses to stop economic ties with Israel they want them to divest of course the divest is the D in the BDS movement boycott divest sanctions the BDS movement which has been going on for for several years they want that universities to stop uh any economic ties any economic cooperation because they believe that the money that these universities are investing in Israel is potentially going to uh the repression of Palestinians and the bombing of Gaza that we’ve seen now for several months so uh another term that they’re using is also disclosed because uh these protesters are saying that there is a little a relative um opacity when it comes to knowing where the money is going in Israel whether these are going to legitim causes for example for research programs or whether they’re going as I’ve said just a moment ago uh to for for more military reasons so that is uh among many of their of their demands they also want an total end of US military aid to Israel uh and uh they’re saying that they won’t move until that happens thank you very much for that weim corne in Los Angeles

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters Thursday remained behind barricades on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, despite police orders to leave. “There is a real possibility we will see police action in the next few hours,” says FRANCE 24 correspondent Wassim Cornet, who is reporting live from the ground. “Police helicopters have been circling around campus for several hours,” he adds, describing the atmosphere at the protest as “quite tense, depending on where are are”.
#Palestine #Gaza #UCLA

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