‘Hundreds’ of arrests as police clear pro-Palestinian camp

He said that there was the “right to protest but not the right to cause chaos” and that demonstrations should be done without “violence, destruction or hate” and within the limits of the law. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campus, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation … none of this is a peaceful protest,” Biden said.

He said the protests had not forced him to reconsider his policies in the Middle East. Asked if he thought that the National Guard should have intervened to end the campus protests, as some Republicans have suggested, Biden gave a firm “no”.

The situation on the UCLA campus appeared to have calmed significantly after hundreds of officers marched away from Dickson Plaza, leaving a group of 50 or so protesters in the remnants of the encampment (Keiran Southern writes).

“Don’t talk to the media,” they shouted as journalists filmed them taking apart a barrier.

“We’d like to recuperate, some of us have had a long night,” a protester said over a megaphone. “We’re just trying to chill.”

A woman waving a Palestinian flag sobbed: “Tell the truth.”

Other demonstrators said they wanted to check on friends who had been detained by police.

A UCLA student who remains at the scene protesting said he saw no reason why he should leave.

“I go to school here, I don’t see why I should be arrested,” the 22-year-old told The Times, yards from a line of police officers in riot gear.

The student, wearing sunglasses, a purple handkerchief over his face and a white hard hat, said he was angered by the war in Gaza and the protests showed how he and his fellow demonstrators “feel about the vested interests of the school”. He added that he did not see the need for a police presence on campus.

Protesters have demanded the University of California divest from war-related industries including weapons manufacturing.

Tensions between officers and the remaining protesters continued to simmer. Police had zip ties and batons while some had shotguns fitted with “less lethal” rounds, sometimes known as “bean bag rounds”.

Alec Pereyda of the California Highway Patrol estimated that there had been thousands of demonstrators involved in the confrontations overnight (Keiran Southern writes).

The officer said the protesters remaining at the site also risked arrest as a dispersal order was in place. He said he was sure officers were trying to resolve the situation “as quickly and peacefully as possible but if arrests need to be made that will be happening”.

However, those remaining showed few signs of preparing to leave peacefully. They continued to chant at police as well as accusing the officers of being fascists.

Police said the number of arrests was in the hundreds but declined to offer a specific number (Keiran Southern writes).

The Times witnessed more than 100 demonstrators being led away to police buses before dawn.

Alec Pereyda, a public information officer with the California Highway Patrol, said those detained risked being charged with failure to disperse, failing to obey an officer’s commands and trespassing.

“A multitude of different charges can be placed on these people, depending on what crimes were committed,” Pereyda told reporters at the scene.

He added that the arrested protesters would either be charged and released, or booked at a local jail.

Stanford University authorities have handed a photo to the FBI of someone on campus wearing a green headband which they say is associated with Hamas (Peter Chappell writes).

Students at the Ivy League college have created an encampment in the White Plaza portion of the northern California college campus to protest against Israeli military actions in Gaza following the October 7 attacks.

“We have received many expressions of concern about a photo circulating on social media of an individual on White Plaza who appeared to be wearing a green headband similar to those worn by members of Hamas,” the school said on Wednesday.

“We find this deeply disturbing, as Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by the United States government. We have not been able to identify the individual but have forwarded the photo to the FBI.”

An open letter which links to the photo and calls for a harsher response to antisemitism on campus has been signed by 28,000 people.

Some left-leaning Democrats have been vocal in their support for the protests (Alistair Dawber writes).

On Wednesday, 57 Democrats in Congress demanded that Biden withhold aid to Israel in the hope of averting a planned assault on Rafah, southern Gaza.

The president has limited his public comments on the protests. “I condemn the antisemitic protests,” he said on April 22. “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”

Leading members of President Biden’s Democratic party are divided on how best to deal with the pro-Palestinian protests, with those facing tight re-election bids later this year calling calling for sterner crackdowns (Alistair Dawber writes).

Sherrod Brown, who faces an uphill battle to keep his seat in Ohio in November’s elections, has called for swift action against the protesters. “We all speak strongly that the antisemitism and hate and violence are not acceptable,” he told The Hill website.

Jacky Rosen, a Democratic senator who faces a difficult election in Nevada, said that Biden and Democrats needed to increase their condemnation of displays of antisemitism on college campuses. “This is pure, blatant antisemitism and it needs to be stopped. It should not be tolerated,” she added.

The protesters taken from the camp — numbering in their hundreds — were lined up at Dickson Plaza, their hands tied behind their backs with zip ties (Keiran Southern writes).

Some chanted “Free Palestine” while being led to law enforcement buses by officers in riot gear.

Only journalists remained at the remnants of the encampment, with tents, pillows and megaphones among the detritus left behind.

Anarchist signs had been spray-painted on the floor, as well as various pro-Palestine messages. A makeshift arts and crafts station, with brushes, chalk and paint, had been torn down.

The doors to Royce Hall, the defining image of UCLA, were barricaded with tents and ropes while the masonry around the doors was painted with “Free Gaza”.

A group of protesters remained behind a police cordon, comparing the Los Angeles Police Department to the Ku-Klux-Klan over a megaphone. The occasional firework exploded nearby.

Footage from the UCLA campus shows protesters wearing helmets, face masks and goggles and carrying umbrellas to protect themselves (Seren Hughes writes).

The helmets range from bike helmets to construction-style hard hats. Protesters can be heard chanting, “We’re not scared”.

Several protesters were seen being detained by California Highway Patrol officers and transported to buses parked about a mile away from the campus. Police are yet to confirm any arrests.

Live footage shows dozens of students running as police entered the university’s Dickson Court, the site of the main protest camp. Police tore down tents and appear to have the square largely under control (Peter Chappell writes).

Sky News reported that slogans were still being shouted through loudspeakers encouraging protesters to hold their ground.

Police are moving in slowly area by area. They appear to have taken control of Royce Hall, the main building in the square.

Donald Trump sided firmly with the police and praised the arrests at Columbia in New York as “a beautiful thing to watch” as he weighed in on the campus protests on Wednesday (Hugh Tomlinson writes).

Speaking at a campaign rally in Wisconsin during a day off in his New York hush money trial, the former president denounced the protesters as “raging lunatics” and called on college presidents across the country to “vanquish” the encampments.

“To every college president, I say remove the encampments immediately … and take back our campuses for all of the normal students,” Trump told supporters in Waukesha.

• Columbia arrests ‘will uncover outside agitators stirring up protests’

President Biden has largely avoided commenting on the student protests, which have exposed rifts within his own party and core supporters just six months from the election (Hugh Tomlinson writes).

His last public comment on the demonstrations was more than a week ago, when he denounced “antisemitic protests” on college campuses, but couched that by condemning “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians”.

The White House has denied that Biden is sidestepping the crisis and said that the president did not support the seizure of university buildings at Columbia this week. “Americans have the right to peacefully protest … Forcibly taking over a building is not peaceful. It’s just not,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said on Wednesday, adding that incidents of antisemitism at the protests were “abhorrent”.

The White House has tried to straddle all sides of the row. “In these charged moments we understand how difficult it is … It can be challenging for law enforcement,” Jean-Pierre said. “At the same time students have to be allowed … to peacefully protest.”

Several hundred people have been arrested at campus demonstrations across the United States in protest at the Israel-Hamas war.

The unrest began with an encampment at Columbia University in New York on April 17 and has since spread to states as far away as Texas and California.

This is how events have unfolded so far.

A student at UCLA has told the BBC that officers are grouped on all sides of the encampment and have begun detaining students.

Ben Kersten, from Jewish Voice for Peace at UCLA, said police are setting off flash-bangs — an explosive designed to disorient people — over the camp.

Separately, protesters have claimed that police have fired rubber bullets at them in an effort to control the disorder. The LA Police Department is yet to release any public comment on its operation at UCLA on Thursday morning, including if they have made any arrests.

Officers started leading some protesters away with their hands tied behind their backs, but the LA Police Department is yet to confirm if any arrests were made.

Hundreds of demonstrators were still believed to be barricaded in the encampment, which could prolong the operation for several more hours.

Live TV footage showed about six protesters at UCLA kneeling on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs with zip ties. Loud explosions could be heard, some from fireworks set off by protesters, others from flash-bang charges or stun grenades fired by police.

Local television station KABC-TV estimated 300 to 500 protesters were hunkered down inside the camp, while around 2,000 more had gathered outside the barricades in support.

Police have methodically ripped apart barricades of plywood, pallets, metal fences and bins to access dozens of tents belonging to demonstrators, which they started to pull down. Demonstrators held umbrellas like shields as they faced off with dozens of officers.

As police helicopters hovered overhead, the sound of flash-bangs pierced the air. Protesters chanted “Where were you last night?” as the officers approached.

The police action occurred a night after the UCLA administration and campus police waited hours to stop an attack by pro-Israel counterprotesters on the Gaza solidarity encampment. The delay drew condemnation from Muslim students and the California governor, Gavin Newsom.