Police move in to clear UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment after protesters defy orders to leave

Police officers forcefully enter an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles this morning.

Almost two hours after California Highway Patrol moved into dismantle the UCLA protest encampment and arrest several people, some protesters are still defiantly standing firm, live footage from the scene shows.

They were linking arms and singing as of 5 a.m (8 a.m. ET) and some tents were still standing, although most have been taken down and thrown onto a growing pile of debris. More protesters were seen being led away with their hands tied, however.

NBC News footage shows the moments police cleared the protest encampment at UCLA this morning after an overnight standoff.

Protesters can be seen trying to stop officers from entering, as one shouts for them to get “back.” A number of protesters can be seen detained on the nearby lawn, their hands in zip ties and some wearing pajamas.

“I am a student here,” says one male being detained by police. “I am an English major. Please don’t fail us. Don’t fail us,” he says as he is taken away by officers.

Police in riot gear have entered into UCLA’s campus after violence broke out between rival protest groups. Classes there are now canceled while arrests mount on dozens of other campuses across the country. NBC’s Liz Kreutz reports for TODAY.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog today issued issued an “urgent message of support” to Jewish communities around the world in light of what he said was “the dramatic resurgence in antisemitism and following the hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students on campuses across the US in particular.”

“We see prominent academic institutions, halls of history, culture, and education contaminated by hatred and antisemitism fueled by arrogance and ignorance, and driven by moral failings and disinformation,” Herzog said in a video message.

Protest groups, many of which include Jewish students, have rejected accusations of antisemitism, arguing they are rallying to oppose Israeli actions in Gaza and in support of Palestinian rights.

Herzog’s message was the latest from Israeli leaders assailing campus protesters in the U.S. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have in recent days clashed with pro-Israel counterprotesters, as well as with police.

A police officer takes aim at a pro-Palestinian protester on the UCLA campus early this morning, as numerous explosions were heard amid violent scuffles between law enforcement and students refusing to move.

Buses were ready for protesters to be taken away from the UCLA campus, as police moved in and detained several people this morning, according to footage from the scene.

Protesters could be seen on the floor with their hands in zip ties, while others were led away by California Highway Patrol officers as a large amount of flashbangs were set off in order to subdue the protest.

Police moved in after 3 a.m. this morning after a long standoff but some protesters are still defying orders to leave.

After an overnight standoff, police moved in to dismantle barricades at the UCLA encampment early this morning.

NBC News video shows armored officers pulling aside metal barriers and seizing makeshift shields from protesters who had formed human chains.

Multiple bangs can then be heard and smoke soon fills the air of the campus.

Police in riot gear have begun moving in and pulling down boards that pro-Palestinian protesters had used to fortify their encampment on the UCLA campus. Tents and gazebos were carried away by officers.

A series of loud bangs can be heard — NBC Los Angeles reporter Anastassia Olmos is on the scene and reported that flashbangs were being set off by police.

Several hundred officers arrived on campus in a series of buses through the early morning, hours after the encampment had been declared unlawful at 6 p.m. yesterday.

Officers had spent at least 30 minutes in a tense standoff with a crowd that had turned up to support the encampment, which was blocking a main stairway into the Royce Quad where the encampment has been for days. At 3 a.m. (6.a.m) those blocking the stairs were seen walking away with their hands raised.

Several protesters were seen to be detained by police, one of them shouting “free Palestine.”

A pro-Palestinian protester wearing swim goggles takes shelter behind a wood pallet, as others use what appear to be plastic container lids to shield themselves during a tense standoff with police at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles early this morning.

Police have scuffled with protesters who were blocking the entrance to the area of the UCLA pro-Palestinian encampment.

A group of several hundred California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear arrived at the UCLA campus in several buses at around 5.30 a.m. (2.30 a.m. ET) and aerial footage from the Reuters news agency showed them clashing with protesters around 5.45 a.m. (3.45 a.m. ET).

Bottles and other items were thrown at police officers amid chants of “We’re not leaving! You don’t scare us!”

UCLA told all students that classes today and tomorrow will be remote learning only, because of the “EMERGENCY ON-CAMPUS.”

The college said in a statement that all students should avoid the Dickson Court / Royce Quad area where the protest encampment is.

All employees have been told to work remotely.

Tense scenes continue at UCLA, where police were seen to clash with protesters just before 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET).

Aerial video footage also showed police apprehend at least one person outside the encampment, near where hundreds of protesters have gathered to support the encampment, outside an area closed off to the public.

Police have formed a line to prevent any more protesters from entering the encampment area in Royce Quad — but aerial footage also appeared to show officers pulling back from the encampment area and walking away after the scuffles broke out.

An order for protesters to leave the area or face arrest was repeated over a loudspeaker.

At least 90 people were arrested in the early hours of this morning at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, police said, for alleged offenses including criminal trespass and resisting arrest.

Those arrested include Dartmouth students and people with no affiliation to the college.

Hanover Police Department said in a statement at 1.30 a.m. that protesters had been warned that no tents would be allowed and that once they were erected there were multiple warnings from college staff and a dispersal order from police.

Some chose to leave, but many stayed, police said, and multiple law enforcement agencies were involved in the resulting operation.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the UCLA protest encampment to offer their support early today, after police cordoned off the quad that saw scenes of violence in the early hours yesterday.

The pro-Palestinian supporters gathered on the Janss Steps that lead to Royce Quad, where several hundred have defied police orders to leave their encampment.

They chanted “peaceful protest” and “shame on you, LAPD” as police officers moved into the encampment area.

A line of police is preventing them from going further into the campus.

UCLA was urged to do more to protect students, as protesters defied repeated warnings to leave the campus in the early hours today.

LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who is currently on the scene at UCLA, said on X: “There is a large police presence from multiple law enforcement agencies after outside mobs attacked peaceful student protesters last night with no one protecting them.

“Students now face police. We urge ULCA & City leaders to protect students, not do more harm.”

Protesters wearing traditional keffiyeh scarves around their faces stand beside graffiti daubed walls inside the encampment set up by pro-Palestinian students on the UCLA campus last night.Two protesters sleep beneath a wall covered with placards on the campus, protesting Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.

As pro-Palestinian student protesters took over a Columbia University building early Tuesday, one person in the crowd outside stood out — a gray-haired woman who delivered orders to young people helping to barricade a door.

“Tie it right to the lock,” she told two masked protesters holding zipties, according to footage posted on social media. The protesters did as they were told, using the ties on a metal table pressed against the door of Hamilton Hall. 

“Let’s give them a little cover,” the older woman said to the crowd. “Cameras back. Cameras back.”

The woman was not a Columbia University student or faculty member. She in fact has no known affiliation to the school at all. 

She is a 63-year-old veteran activist named Lisa Fithian, or what the New York Police Department described as a “professional agitator.”

Read the full story here.

A large crowd of people could still be seen at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles tonight, hours after news crews heard police orders to disperse, helicopter video showed.

There have no reports of arrests on the campus, where there also was some distance away a pro-Palestinian protest encampment.

Police were seen on campus. The Daily Bruin student newspaper reports some police were in riot gear.

Student journalist at UCLA, Dylan Winward, detailed the moment counter-protesters threw fireworks and tear gas at the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. Winward said counter-protesters did “not appear to be student led.” 

Police stage on the UCLA campus near an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Los Angeles late last night.