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Administrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, called in law enforcement officers after violent clashes broke out at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, a university official said early Wednesday.
The Los Angeles police were “responding immediately” to a request for support from the university, according to the office of the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass.
“Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” Mary Osako, a vice chancellor at the university, in said an emailed statement.
“The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene,” she added. “We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”
Videos posted to social media show clashes involving protesters, firecrackers exploding near groups of demonstrators and people spraying what appeared to be irritant sprays at one another. Some people are also seen tearing down metal barricades surrounding the encampment.
Ms. Bass had spoken to both Gene Block, the university chancellor, and Dominic Choi, the Los Angeles chief of police, according to a social media post by Zach Seidl, Ms. Bass’s chief spokesman.
On Tuesday night, university officials declared a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus illegal and warned protesters that they faced consequences if they did not leave. It was a sharp turnabout at a campus that had been among the most tolerant as protests sweep campuses nationwide.
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