UCLA Pro-Palestine Protests and Search for Attackers Continues Following Removal of Encampment

Tension at the University of California, Los Angeles, continued over the weekend and into Monday when professors protested outside an A-list gala at the school on Saturday night and another several dozen students were detained on Monday, while investigations into the mob that attacked the pro-Palestine encampment on campus last week continued.

Despite the mass arrests and dismantling of an encampment by police in riot gear that took place on Thursday, pro-Palestine protests carried on Monday at the university. A group of demonstrators was seen zip-tied and being moved by authorities from a UCLA parking garage to an LACPD bus. The number of protester arrests was 43, according to local news reports KTLA, with those taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and released after they were processed; all classes have now been moved to remote.

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This follows a group of roughly 20 UCLA faculty who protested Saturday outside the campus’ Hammer Museum as its outgoing director Ann Philbin was honored at an event where the guest list included Jane Fonda, Ava DuVernay, Keanu Reeves, Will Ferrell, Joel McHale and Owen Wilson, according to the LA Times. Host Jodie Foster made a neutral reference to the upheaval that rattled the campus last week and led to all classes being canceled amid the arrest of hundreds of students and pro-Palestine protests. Philibin, as reported by the L.A. Times. also nodded to the protest, telling the Hollywood and art world crowd, “We will defend the sacrosanct right to freedom of expression and the right to protest.” Meanwhile, faculty riled up over the mass arrest that included some of their students rallied outside, with one showing what she said was a X-ray of a student of hers’ broken hand bones.

Police have made no arrests since the violent attack last week at UCLA’s Royce Quad, where pro-Palestine demonstrators had been stationed for over a week, demanding UCLA divest itself and cut connections to organizations contributing to what they are calling the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Late on April 30, a masked group of men entered the campus and violently attacked the encampment hours after outgoing Chancellor Gene Block declared the camp illegal. Mostly men, the attackers were carrying items indicating they were pro-Israel, and some, according to a professor at the scene, yelled in Hebrew as they assaulted individuals and ignited fireworks that exploded over and near at the encampment.

The response by campus security and local police has brought about multiple investigations — one by the school, according to Block, and another by the head of the UC system —the ongoing finger-pointing and blame-shifting led Block over the weekend to create a new department at UCLA. The Office of Campus Safety has now been launched to run emergency management and Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento chief of police, has been nominated with the title of inaugural associate vice chancellor.

Outrage over the attack led the New York Times video investigative team to publish a thorough analysis of the events that took place after piecing together available footage; the publication’s probe concludes that, aside from acts of defense, the pro-Palestine demonstrators had remained largely peaceful throughout the attack. The Times, referring to the attackers as counter-protesters, reports that the violent incident lasted for nearly five hours.

“The violence had been instigated by dozens of people who are seen in videos counter-protesting the encampment,” the Times‘ report states, later citing local police and California Highway Patrol officers who eventually arrived to quell the violent scene: “Throughout the intermittent violence, officers were captured on video standing about 300 feet away from the area for roughly an hour, without stepping in.”

Online sleuths have since launched attempts to identify the attackers and discover with whom or what group they may be affiliated. One man from the group of attackers had stopped to be interviewed by a reporter between attacks on the encampment. Speaking as he struggles to breathe after being exposed to a chemical agent, the yet-to-be-identified man tells the reporter that he does not attend UCLA and that he was there because he believes that the demonstrators at the encampment had been blocking students from attending classes; this was also a point made in Block’s letter to the UCLA community and which he said led the administration to deem the encampment illegal earlier that day.

Following the attack, which came a day before police dismantled the encampment and arrested approximately 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, attention has moved to the group or individual behind a GoFundMe fundraising page claiming to be organizing counter-protests to the UCLA encampment. The plea for funds, which has raised $97,974 as of Monday, is being called “Fighting antisemitism on campus.” According to The Daily Beast, the creator of the page is Beverly Hills resident Nathan Mo, but the page author has recently been changed to the moniker Jew Bears For Truth, matching a linked Instagram account that shared footage from the April 30 attack.

The Daily Beast reports that the fundraiser initially stated: “A group of us are planning something very big for the ucla encampment… we are working to bring a huge screen and big loud speakers right next to them and just play nonstop clips and interviews from Oct 7.

“In order to do this right we need lots of equipment, logistics, staff and security,” the post added. “If we all pitch in a bit then we can make this a legendary counter move and drown out their chants with the screams and cries of October 7th.” The GoFundMe page title changed multiple times, including to “UCLA counter-protest” (which is the URL that remains), “Bruins for Israel,” “UCLA rally” and finally, as of Monday, “Fighting antisemitism on campus.” The Hollywood Reporter contacted the group or individual for an interview but did not immediately receive a response on Monday.

The group caught the eye of author Jessica Seinfeld, who shared the page with her Instagram followers while mentioning her $5,000 donation. Seinfeld’s husband is the famous comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, and the donation led to scrutiny of his affiliations and a trip he recently took to Israel in a weekend New York Times story. Meanwhile, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman touted his donation to a separate but affiliated GoFundMe called “Support Loud Video Displays of Oct 7 Truths,” which has raised $53, 248.

“We’re planning to take this momentum to the next level, and in the next week or two, we’ll be targeting either Columbia or Harvard University, ” the page by a person identified as Dani M. wrote. “Our goal is to continue making our voices heard. As long as it takes.” The fundraiser is connected to the Shirion Collective, which describes itself in a bio on Twitter as a private Jewish surveillance force.

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