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“Essentially, at first they enter the encampment and then they left and then they came from the front and they destroyed our barricade and they, you know, started with the batons. And they I mean, there is, there were cops who were extremely violent, extremely aggressive. We were, we had said that one of them looked coked out because he was just like wide-eyed and chewing gum and like just grabbing people and like swinging his baton wildly. And it's just like that lack of oversight, that lack of care is just something that UCLA doesn't really care to, you know, think about when they decide to call the cops on us.”
That's 22-year-old UCLA student protestor Ryan, who says he was on the “front lines" of the pro-Palestinian protest camp raided and dismantled by police in the early hours of the morning.
The English Literature student says he had been beaten with police batons, arrested and taken to jail where he was issued a citation and released after around five hours.
The pre-dawn police crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint in mounting tensions on U.S. college campuses, where protests over Israel's war in Gaza have led to student clashes with each other and with law enforcement.
US President Joe Biden says the protests put to the test two fundamental American principles: the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard, alongside the rule of law.
“Dissent must never lead to disorder or to denying the rights of others so students can finish the semester and their college education. Look, it's basically a matter of fairness. It's a matter of what's right. There's the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across campus safely without fear of being attacked. But let's be clear about this as well. There should be no place on any campus, no place in America, for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it's anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It's simply wrong. There's no place for racism in America.”
Israel's President, Isaac Herzog has sent a message for the Jewish community around the world and in the American universities.
“To our friends on campuses and in Jewish communities across the United States and all over the world, to those who stand by and defend the Jewish people and the state of Israel, to all people of good will: from Jerusalem, our eternal capital , I say to you: The people of Israel are with you. We hear you. We see the shameless hostility and threats. We feel the insult, the breach of faith and breach of friendship. We share the apprehension and concern.”
Meanwhile in Dublin, protestors are demanding the Irish broadcaster RTE boycotts the Eurovision Song Contest next week, because of Israel's participation in the event.
Bronagh - who didn't give her last name - accused RTE of 'art-washing' - which she says normalises Israel as a state by including them in Eurovision and in sporting events.
“So the reason I feel Israel shouldn't be in the Eurovision is for the same reason that Russia and Belarus aren't in the Eurovision, that the Eurovision Song Contest organisers say that they are not political, but they stand for the values of democracy, solidarity and unity. And I feel that they should apply those same values to the people of Palestine by not having Israel partake.”
While the protests continue around the world, the US State Department is urging Hamas to accept the latest proposal for a ceasefire.
Hamas says it's sending a delegation to Cairo to continue cease-fire talks.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller says the proposal on the table answers many of the demands that Hamas made in previous rounds of negotiations.
“Israel made a significant offer. And this last proposal that went forward, they compromised on many long held positions that they had taken. And as I said, met many of the demands that Hamas had said they needed to agree to a deal. So we believe it's now incumbent upon them to take the deal. The deal that they demanded that has been offered, they should accept and move forward. It is Hamas that is the only barrier to a ceasefire right now, an immediate ceasefire. And we are waiting their response.”
The economic impact of the conflict in Gaza has been revealed to be enormous.
The UN Development Program says the costs are 'increasing exponentially' with each day that the conflict continues.
Abdallah Al Dardari, Director of the UNDP's Regional Bureau for Arab States says reconstructing Gaza is already likely to cost between 60 and 75 billion dollars ((US$40-50 billion)).
“The Human Development Index for Palestine in general, not just for Gaza, for Palestinian territories, East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza have regressed by 20 years, and for Gaza alone, it has regressed by more than 40 years. We are back in the 80's almost for Gaza. So all the investments in human development in the Palestinian territories in the last 20 years and in Gaza in the last 40 years have been wiped out.”
The report says 72 per cent of all the housing in Gaza has been destroyed.
