‘Scenes of devastation’ after police break up UCLA Gaza protest camp • FRANCE 24 English

‘Scenes of devastation’ after police break up UCLA Gaza protest camp • FRANCE 24 English

we start on the campus of UCLA in California where police have recently dismantled the pro Palestinian protest site let’s show you some of the images we have of when that was taking place a short while ago hundreds of police officers entering the Central Plaza of the University this was around 24 hours after the encampment was attacked by pro-israel supporters now we understand the police operation largely is over and a handful of students have been arrested well let’s cross live then to UCLA our correspondent Wasim cor joins me from there was you’ve watched this police raid unfold over the past few hours tell us what you’ve seen and what now remains of that encampment well I can show you what remains of the encampment and it is really just uh scenes of complete and utter Devastation you can see behind me just a sea of debris what was almost uh a village within a campus is now no longer no more there is just a ton of debris those tents that were there were dozens of them standing uh for many many days that were that’s where the protesters were uh spent several nights uh you see uh some uh clothing PPE equipment that these protesters had brought with them to try to protect themselves from police and everywhere you look there is just debris uh food you can see there is a sign right there for Hygiene this was uh presumably a station where uh people could come for the signs of sunscreen lip balm wet wipes lotion uh so there was also a medical tent over there in the distance so this is really just uh complete and utter de Devastation hard to believe that just two hours ago again this was really just a village within a campus and so we saw in those pictures that just a few moments ago that uh police came in at around 3:30 in the morning with a tear gas they launched an initial assault against the first line of defense in front of the uh of the of the encampment uh it took several hours to clear everybody out they used from by my count more than a hundred stun grenades to uh disperse uh people to to try to uh scare them away it did work for for a certain number of people who did run away when those stun grenades started getting to be started getting fired uh but um here we are this is what’s left of the encampment that was here on the campus of UCLA for a little over a week now quite a scene indeed you show us there Wasim and as you say it’s been cleared of students where are they now well as you mentioned there are we do know that there were a handful of arrests we still don’t have any official numbers uh we did see uh earlier in the day or rather on on Wednesday we saw uh the sheriff’s department bringing six large transport buses presumably for any arrest they made I can see two right there in in the distance but I don’t know how uh how uh if they are filled to capacity where the four others are uh what what is left is those there are there is a last stand there right there in distance if you can see a lot of uh I’m going to circle down this cameraman um but you can see there is a large police presence over there that is where on the other side of that of that police line there are still about a dozen protesters who are vowing to take back at least a part of this encampment that is their desire at least where they’ve been chanting for several hours now we will take this back uh we’re not leaving we’re not scared so um presumably well at least on their end they think that this is not over I would say that given the police presence how destroy this encampment has is is now I think it is safe to say that it is largely over at least on this encampment okay so the protest over for the moment Wasim just a final question I know you’ve been on campus for several nights now speak to us a bit about the strength of feeling tell us about the protesters you’ve spoken to and why it is they’ve decided to decided to go to that encampment despite the fact that clearly the government of the university and and the police don’t want them there I think I mean I don’t know if I’ll be able to show you but there are there are dozens and dozens and dozens of signs on these pillars now there is graffiti of course I think it’s fair to say that anyone here laments the graffiti because it is architecture that needs to be preserved but on those signs you see you know self-determination for Palestinians let Gaza live there’s a sign that says Indonesians for Palestinians there’s a sign that says Chas for Palestinians there’s a sign that’s that with a QR code offering to scan to to to help uh Muhammad’s family evacuate Gaza this is really uh you know a cause that a lot of people believed in something that I witnessed that really just struck me when I showed up earlier this this evening there were a group of four very young students who were repeating after one after the other the phone number for the jail support if they were to be arrested these young students knew exactly what they were getting themselves into they were memorizing that phone number they were ready to take the risks it clearly is a cause that uh that a lot of people believe in

Hundreds of police cleared a sprawling protest encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, tearing down barriers and arresting students in the latest clash on US campuses over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Wassim Cornet, France 24’s correspondent in Los Angeles, reports from UCLA where he says “scenes of devastation” are all that remain of the encampment.
#Palestine #Gaza #UCLA

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