Students at the University of California, Los Angeles, formed a new pro-Palestinian protest on Thursday while the university’s chancellor was being grilled by lawmakers in Washington over how he responded to an encampment last month.
A small group of protesters initially formed a new encampment early in the afternoon, creating a barricade with umbrellas, tables and slabs of wood in an area known as the Kerckhoff Patio. But they fled when the police moved in, with some going to a nearby building for a sit-in. U.C.L.A. said it was not aware of the police making any arrests.
Already facing pressure over its response to protests in late April, the university appeared to take a hard line on Thursday. Shortly after the encampment was formed, U.C.L.A. warned students that they would be arrested if they did not leave, and they quickly called in officers from the Los Angeles and Santa Monica police departments, who arrived wearing riot helmets and carrying batons. Several police wagons were also brought to campus.
Officers sought to block additional protesters from entering the encampment, and several hundred more demonstrators gathered outside to show support. There were some small skirmishes as officers pushed the protesters away with batons.
In a statement, university officials said that the demonstrators were “disrupting campus operations” because they had barricaded the patio area.
“Demonstrators have been informed that if they do not disperse, they will face arrest and possible disciplinary action, as well as an order to stay away from campus for seven days,” the officials wrote, adding that the order would apply to people whether or not they are affiliated with the university.
After the encampment was cleared, about 300 demonstrators gathered outside Murphy Hall and chanted “Free Palestine,” urging the university to divest from companies that they view as supporting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
U.C.L.A.’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine urged people to come support the protest and criticized the congressional hearing on allegations of antisemitism. “We’re back,” the group wrote in an Instagram post early on Thursday, calling the new demonstration “Encampment 2.0.”
The group said in a statement that the hearing was “a textbook example of political theater” that conflated “calls for Palestinian liberation with antisemitism” in an effort to curb pro-Palestinian movements. It condemned what it described as a “McCarthyist” effort to censor protesters.
U.C.L.A.’s chancellor, Gene D. Block, was among three university leaders to testify on Thursday before the House committee, which is investigating antisemitism on campuses. Lawmakers criticized Dr. Block for not clearing the encampment in April sooner, and for not protecting students when they were attacked by a group of pro-Israel counterprotesters. The police ultimately cleared that encampment, arresting more than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this month.