With last week’s unrest still top of mind, Cal State LA officials took swift action on Monday to remove an encampment built by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on campus.
Officers from several law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles Police Department, gave a disbursement order and swept through the encampment around 1 p.m.
A university spokesperson said no force was necessary, and a group of about seven demonstrators left without incident. Left behind were stacks of wood pallets, signs, tents, and graffiti, Sky5 aerial footage showed.
Last Wednesday, upwards of 100 demonstrators stormed and occupied Cal State LA’s Student Services building, causing extensive damage. Several university employees were briefly trapped inside.
The protesters are demanding the university sever ties with Israel over the Jewish state’s military offensive in Gaza in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians.
“The university had committed that as long as the protests remained peaceful, we would continue to talk and try to work with them,” Erik Frost Collins, a spokesperson for Cal State LA, told KTLA’’’s Kimberly Cheng “But as soon as the violence ended up happening … as soon as we had destruction of one of our buildings and employees intimidated, it simply had to be the case that the encampment needed to be removed.”
Collins said there have been four assaults involving demonstrators, three targeting university employees and one incident involving a student.
The escalation, Collins said, left the university no choice but to clear the encampment.
“For a community as close as Cal State LA, it’s devastating to have one of your own attacked by people who are claiming to protest injustice,” he said. “That changed the tone in our approach with the encampment and really made it clear that negotiation was no longer possible. Disbursement was the only option left.”