By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM/LOS ANGELES (Worthy News) – Clashes broke out at U.S. universities, injuring several people Wednesday as police struggled to end weeks-long protests against Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Violence erupted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after a pro-Palestinian encampment was “forcefully attacked,” the school’s chancellor claimed Wednesday.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block told media that “a group of instigators” arrived on campus Tuesday to “forcefully attack” the pro-Palestinian encampment.
The attack prompted the school to ask for police assistance, he added.
Fifteen people were injured during the UCLA confrontation, including one person who was hospitalized, officials said.
Elsewhere, activists at the University of Wisconsin in the state’s capital, Madison, reportedly fought with security forces who destroyed their tents as tensions rose over the Gaza war, thousands of miles (kilometers) away.
Wednesday’s riots erupted after police raided a building occupied by pro-Palestine protestors at Columbia University in New York late Tuesday, breaking up a rally that critics said had paralyzed the school.
REBUILDING BARRICADE
Back at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields separated the groups and restored calm, witnesses said.
Later Wednesday, pro-Palestinian protesters rebuilt a barricade around their encampment, underscoring the difficulties law enforcement has in containing resilient anti-war crowds.
No counter-protesters were seen while police were deployed throughout the campus, authorities said.
In Madison on Wednesday, police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters, reporters said.
Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, said University of Wisconsin police spokesperson Marc Lovicott.
Within hours, protesters had erected more tents at the same university campus.
More than 30 people were reportedly arrested, most of them released without charges, but four were charged with battering law enforcement, police said.
VIETNAM MOMENT
Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century.
Experts say the rallies are part of a student movement unlike any other this century.
The police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
Israel has defended its military operations in Gaza, saying it was responding to attacks by “terrorist organization Hamas,” which killed some 1,200 people and abducted hundreds in Israel on October 7.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry says over 34,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks, but those figures were impossible to verify independently.
While pro-Palestine protests have gained much attention, thousands shouting “God loves Israel!” and “Israel is not alone!” gathered outside the gates of Columbia University last week to protest against the “rising antisemitic spirit on college campuses across America.”
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