UCLA resumes in-person classes after crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests

Face-to-face classes will resume Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), three days after they were moved online following campus clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police, the institution announced.

Protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have rocked American campuses for weeks, leading to police dispersal, mass arrests and a sharp call for order from the White House.

On Friday, UCLA announced that it had moved classes online after a large police contingent was forcibly evacuated from a camp of mobilized students.

During the week, the situation gradually worsened on campus, with clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters.

“The campus will resume its normal activities” this Monday and “plans to continue them through the end of the week,” according to a news release posted Sunday on the university’s website.

“Law enforcement officers are always present on campus to ensure safety,” the press release added.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block announced “immediate changes” in managing campus security and that they will be overseen by a new office led by former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel.

“UCLA needs a unit and a leader whose sole responsibility is campus safety to guide us through tense moments,” he said in a statement.

More than 2,000 arrests have taken place in the past two weeks in the United States, some of them during violent clashes with police accused of using excessive force.

President Joe Biden, who is under pressure from all political parties over the conflict in Gaza, stressed that “order (must) prevail” on American campuses.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 when Hamas militants launched a massive attack on Israel that killed more than 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel has since launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,600 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.