Supporters of Israel clash with pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA

on this Wednesday morning we're going to begin with live coverage and breaking news out of Los Angeles a protest over Israel's war in Gaza on the campus of UCLA may be ending in a melee [Music] [Applause] oh video into US overnight and reports from the scene are telling us this morning that in the overnight hours pro-israel protesters moved in on the pro Palestinian protesters and the encampment that has been there for some time it appears to have started with scuffles over metal railings and as you can see from these aerial images it quickly escalated into fighting now there's no sound on these images but you can clearly make out the two sides here one appearing to be on the attack the other attempting to hold them off one thing you won't see in this video is any sign of campus police or of officers from the Los Angeles police department now this is overnight let me show you now the live pictures because that has changed and you can see the long court now of police officers this is a multi- agency operation Los Angeles police campus police Highway Patrol and they have now arrived on campus Steve Ferman has been there through the night he's very close to the action police are moving Steve in his position as things change and escalate so Steve just be careful yourself but tell us what's happening show us around what is happening live in Los Angeles this morning well Heather right behind me are the highway patrol in Los Angeles Police Department they have moved in in the last few minutes and we don't know exactly what they plan to do now overnight the UCLA Administration declared the encampment illegal that may give the law enforcement officials reason to move in now let's talk about what's been going on for the last few hours these scuffles constantly between the two sides and sometimes some violent scuffles fist fights we've seen uh very nasty words being exchanged by both sides it's been very tense here although it has not div completely into total chaos but there have been moments of chaos now during the protest the counter protesters going back and forth we met a young man who was trying to keep peace between the two sides I'm trying what can you do I had nothing else to do on a Tuesday night I saw you walking around what is it just the two groups basically how there's just a couple rabble rousers everybody's upset but now there has been some I don't know if it's tear gas I don't think it has been but some sort of irritant maybe pepper spray I had a coughing fit a few moments ago but right now you hear the chanting in the background these are the pro Palestinian protesters behind me in the encampment they have been chanting we are not going anywhere you've had the the pro-israeli protesters chanting free free the hostages you have the pro Palestinian protesters chanting free Palestine so it's a bit of a standoff again we've had the fist fights we don't know what the police are planning to do that's the big question right now but the police were not here for many hours they have finally moved in and right now you see behind me a group of LAPD officers in riak here with the protective face mask they are moving in again we're not sure exactly what their plan is yeah they're right behind you Steve we're seeing very closely the kind of uh you know Armament they have their kind of protection as you say the face guards I'm thinking I'm seeing batons there I I have a couple questions I want to talk well let's talk about police presence uh right now but I have some more um there has been criticism uh throughout the night because this was escalating and violent and there were no police on site and there was no police presence what was the thinking there and why not well I'm not really sure I mean obviously we're going to ask these questions later on but one of the possibilities is that the fact that this did not completely go downhill yes there were the there were the fist fights but if the police move in would it escalate the violence that was one concern I believe again we've not spoken to officials but that's my guess right now when I first arrived here there were no police present the security people who've been here for a while who are not official law enforcement who have been security here at UCL trying to keep the peace they left when their situation turned into a dangerous situation so it was pretty much a a free situation and you did have the in-your-face moments between the the two sides so do we know they're there now obviously and uh and strong presence uh have there been a rest to this hour Steve do we know that I don't think so Heather what I think is going to happen if they decide to move in and break this up there would be most likely a warning given by the authorities saying we declare this an illegal uh Gathering and you have X number of minutes to get out that's what normally happens with the LAPD but we've not heard any warning like that but they certainly look uh I mean they look very serious right now they certainly do right behind you there and then my other question is is everyone involved uh members are they members of the UCLA Community or are as we've heard in some of the other campus situations people who have come in to join the kind of protest activity are they Outsiders do we know that Steve yeah Heather it's a mixture I mean from the very start when I first got here last Thursday when the encampment started it was always a mixture you do have a large number a large percentage of students here I'm not going to guess what the percentage is but you also have people who are partisans you have people who believe that Palestine should be free they are part of the mix on the encampment side and then you have people who believe Israel must exist you know pro-israeli supporters who are part of the mix on this counter protest side as well so it's definitely a mixture it's not all students but it certainly does involve a I think a significant percentage of students Steve I'm going to leave it with you now but stand by and we'll be back through the morning for this live coverage thank you so much Steve and again really appreciate that breaking information Steve live on the campus at UCLA and again let's just stay with these live shots for one moment and you can see the people who are still there and as I mentioned that multiforce security response uh corroborating some of the things that Steve has said the LA Times reporting that yes there were people who arrived the counter demonstrators the pro-israel side who arrived tried to tear down the barricades there were fireworks set off at least one according to the LA Times went into that encampment and then uh the propell Palestinian side according to the LA Times Steve mentioned that pepper spray that he was choking LA Times reporting it was in fact pepper spray so here is the aerial view which we will also watch and the other angle from the ground with Steve fman helping us with the live coverage today uh according to uh the vice Chancellor for UCLA they called in law enforcement after some time criticized as Steve was saying uh because of quote horrific acts of violence which have not yet been defined exactly by the university but this was what they said they witnessed last night horrific acts of violence at the encampment tonight so they called in law enforcement we will see how this progresses through the morning together

Channel: CBC News

Views: 80,818

Keywords: United States, California, Los Angeles, UCLA, campus, protest, Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Palestinians, cbcnews

Id: qsvBTAyJaw0

Length: 8min 15sec (495 seconds)

Published: Wed May 01 2024