The Brief

Hundreds of law enforcement officers in riot gear cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA early Thursday, firing flash bangs and dismantling barriers.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block released a statement Thursday confirming that 200 people were arrested. UCLA associate professor Graeme Blair told LAist that around 10 of those arrested were faculty members.

A tense standoff at UCLA has officers begin making arrests early Thursday and dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment that went up a week ago.

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Brian Feinzimer for LAist

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After initially forming a line and holding it, officers began to move more aggressively before 5 a.m., pushing back protesters holding makeshift shields and lobbing items at the police line.

In short order, they cleared dozens of protesters who had set up on the front portico of Royce Hall, where pro-Palestinian graffiti had been spray painted on the ornate stone doorways and scores of flyers taped on pillars and screwed into the barricaded front doors. By 5:15 a.m. the encampment was clear, with only a small contingent of protesters remaining.

A CHP officer tears down tents while clearing the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the early morning hours of May 2, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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CHP officers face off demonstrators while clearing the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the early morning hours of May 2, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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The initial police action began about nine hours after the first order to disperse was made. Law enforcement first declared the protest an unlawful assembly about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday night.

Then by around 3:15 a.m. Thursday, officers began breaking down tents and dismantling plywood boards to remove a makeshift barrier wall erected by protesters in the week since the encampment went up.

By the time CHP officers removed most barricades along the east side of the encampment, the number of protesters had thinned significantly in the early morning hours.

Earlier, the LAPD told LAist that the CHP would be leading the operation, but the department and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department also had a heavy presence on campus. Many students said ahead of the move by police that they were willing to be arrested.

Block, who held a special UCLA Alumni Town Hall on Thursday, said the protests had been overall peaceful, but that the encampment became a focal point for serious violence.

"It left us with very strong feelings. The fact that the encampment represents not only a risk to the students inside the encampment, because it's very hard to protect their security unless you have a very large number of police continually guarding the encampment," Block said during the virtual town hall.

When asked if university disciplinary action would be taken, Block said it’ll be on a case by case basis.

“It's very different, obviously someone who's actively resistant and may have even, you know, really assaulted to a police officer though. Some of those are quite serious and should have consequences clearly” Block said. “I should emphasize students were all free to leave before they became arrested. They were told to leave the encampment, and many did just walk out and leave. So this was really a choice. It wasn't the police surrounding them and they (were) stuck. They could leave.”

The university will also continue to investigation the attack overnight Tuesday by counterprotesters and the security measures employed, Block said.

Earlier in the night

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators lined up in anticipation of law enforcement clearing the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the early morning hours of May 2, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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As a police helicopter circled overhead for hours, many people on campus wore face masks. Some even had gas masks, saying they were worried police or counterprotesters would use tear gas or pepper spray on them.

The move to clear the encampment came after a night of violence from Tuesday into Wednesday.

UCLA canceled classes Wednesday after students and journalists reported that counterprotesters attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, leading to more than a dozen injuries. Then, Wednesday evening, UCLA officials said classes would be remote Thursday and Friday and employees were "encouraged to work remotely." They also advised people to avoid Royce Quad, where the protests are taking place.

UC President Michael Drake, who oversees the University of California system, said Wednesday that he ordered an independent outside review of UCLA's planning and actions surrounding the overnight violence between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters.

Inside the encampment after police declared an unlawful gathering

Pro-Palestinian protesters work together to screw signs onto barricaded front doors at Royce Hall on UCLA's campus Wednesday night. Protesters said they were concerned police could come through the building into the encampment.

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Brian Feinzimer for LAist

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As officers moved around outside of the encampment — an area fortified by plywood — protesters and observers remained largely calm.

Many people inside the encampment wore construction, bicycle or other types of helmets in anticipation of another confrontation with pro-Israeli counterprotesters or police.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators observe law enforcement massed outside of the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the late evening hours of May 1, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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“Most people are getting ready in case the cops try to do something violent against them,” said Mahmoud Abobaker, a 28-year-old film and TV major who is Palestinian American. “Everybody is expecting something.”

The mood was at once anxious and festive, with a couple of drummers and a trumpet playing near one end of the camp. Others chanted slogans in support of Palestine. A small group of Muslims got on their knees as a man chanted the traditional call to prayer over a bullhorn.

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrators sleeps ahead of law enforcement clearing the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the late evening hours of May 1, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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UCLA student Sydney Do helps pass out food from Muslims of LA to pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the early morning hours of May 2, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Several Palestinian flags blew in a light breeze. Many wore Keffiyehs.

Some people lounged inside their tents. Others walked about the encampment visiting with friends. Still others secured the plywood they’d put up on around the perimeter.

Around 10 p.m., a large number of people not involved in the camp rallied outside of it in support of the students.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators pray at the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza outside of Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA in the late evening hours of May 1, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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All the while, majestic Royce Hall, much of it covered in pro-Palestinian graffiti and signage, stood witness to it all.

Sarah Adams, who works for UCLA’s humanities department, said she was on the outskirts of the encampment in the early hours of Thursday “to watch out for our students and protect them and be there for them as best as we could.”

“A lot of us are tired, we're angry, we're upset at our university, we're upset at the way that students who pay tuition and staff and faculty who give their labor, who care so much about the school, the way that we've been treated by our school,” Adams, a trained medic, said.

Blair, an associate professor of political science, was one of the faculty members arrested during the dispersal.

He said he shared a jail bus with some of the arrested students and was “amazed by their resilience in the face of the horrible, violent attacks by outsiders and their focus on their mission.”

L.A. Mayor and others condemn violence

The scene Wednesday night at UCLA.

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Brian Feinzimer for LAist

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Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Wednesday that she met with various law enforcement agencies, including LAPD and UCPD, about the “absolutely detestable violence on campus.”

“There must be a full investigation into what occurred on campus last night,” Bass said in a statement. “Those involved in launching fireworks at other people, spraying chemicals and physically assaulting others will be found, arrested, and prosecuted, as well as anyone involved in any form of violence or lawlessness. I want to make sure the message I delivered to law enforcement and other officials earlier today is clear: Free speech will be protected. Violence and bigotry will not.”

In his statement, Drake said the external review would also look at the effectiveness of the mutual aid response and will help address many immediate questions and guide possible future events,.

“Through the early morning hours, mutual aid was summoned from the LAPD and others to help UCLA restore control,” Drake said. “Unfortunately, there are a reported 15 injuries, including one hospitalization. The situation has been stabilized and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has reiterated that, having declared the encampment unlawful yesterday, he will dismantle it at the appropriate time. My office has requested a detailed accounting from the campus about what transpired in the early morning hours today.”

What happened overnight Tuesday into Wednesday

The Los Angeles Times reported that the violence started close to midnight when a large group of counterprotesters tried to tear down the makeshift barricades surrounding the encampment.

Videos sent to LAist from students on the ground show the counterprotesters launching fireworks into the encampment and using what appears to be bear spray at the pro-Palestinian protesters. Television news footage and images on social media showed some students bleeding from wounds and flushing their faces with water.

Felicia Ford of Inglewood told LAist she arrived shortly after midnight and saw people fighting with bats and poles. She also said fireworks were thrown into the encampment.

"That's not what represents the people that are protesting for a change of what's going on in Israel and the Gaza Strip," she said, adding that once police arrived, they "shut it all down."

Officers in riot gear reportedly arrived around 1:40 a.m., but students said they did not immediately intervene as counterprotesters continued to attack the camp.

Demonstrators restore a protective barrier at an encampment on the UCLA campus, the morning after clashes between Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian groups, on May 1, 2024.

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Jae C. Hong

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AP

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Raymond Durr, a third-year student studying data theory and economics, said counterprotesters have been the agitators.

"The pro-Palestinians are the ones who get punished with threats by the chancellor of disciplinary action, including expulsion, because of the general violence, but we're not the ones causing the violence, so why are we the ones who are getting punished?” said Durr, who identifies as half-Palestinian.

He added that he’s happy with the increased police presence on campus.

"I hope that they stay the night to stop the (pro) Israeli counterprotesters from attacking the encampment," he said.

Tai Min, a 20-year-old sociology major, told LAist that a mob of hundreds of people descended on the encampment with weapons.

“We have folks who had to get sent to the ER,” Min said. “We had a lot of folks who were pepper sprayed, bear maced. There’s folks in the ER with like blunt force trauma.”

The UCLA First Thursdays event scheduled for May 2 in Wilson Plaza has been canceled because of the “distress following the violence on Royce Quad and ongoing tension regarding campus demonstrations,” the university announced Wednesday afternoon.

The backstory

Students and demonstrators have formed a Pro-Palestinian occupation encampment protest on campus at UCLA in front of Royce Hall on April 25, 2024.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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The encampment on UCLA's campus was set up last Thursday, with pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanding an end to Israel's assault on Gaza and divestment by the university from companies. Unlike an earlier encampment across town at USC, UCLA protesters fortified their area with plywood and pallets.

On Sunday night, pro-Israeli protesters set up a counter protest that included a giant screen playing images of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

After some clashes Sunday, a university spokesperson said UCLA would increase security measures. In addition to canceling classes for Wednesday, the university said Royce Hall and Powell Library would remain closed.

Reporting from the scene

Reporters on the ground, including student journalists from the student-run Daily Bruin newspaper, say law enforcement was called in but did not intervene until after the violence broke out. LAist has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department for comment.

According to the Daily Bruin, the university declared the encampment “unlawful and violates university policy.”

In a message to the Bruin community on Wednesday afternoon, Chancellor Gene Block said:

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty, and community members was utterly unacceptable. It has shaken our campus to its core and — adding to other abhorrent incidents that we have witnessed and that have circulated on social media over the past several days — further damaged our community’s sense of security.”

He added, “I want to express my sincere sympathy to those who were injured last night, and to all those who have been harmed or have feared for their safety in recent days. No one at this university should have to encounter such violence. Our student affairs team has been reaching out to affected individuals and groups to offer support and connections to health and mental health resources.”

Block said in the statement they will conduct a thorough investigation that may lead to arrests, expulsions, and dismissals. He noted that they’re also carefully examining UCLA’s security processes and encouraged people who’ve encountered violence to report their experiences to UCPD, and those who’ve faced discrimination to contact the campuses’ Civil Rights Office.

“This is a dark chapter in our campus’s history,” Block said in a statement. “We will restore a safe learning environment at UCLA.”

But some students said they haven't heard from the university about the injuries they sustained.

Aidan Doyle, a philosophy and jazz student, told LAist he had a battery thrown at his right cheek.

"As I was trying to keep the metal barriers attached to the barricade, I was dragged out into a group of six men who whipped my back, who attacked me with sticks, who punched my face, and who slashed me with a sharp metal rod," he said.

Aisha Syed, who is part of UCLA's Muslim Student Association, described the pepper spray and fireworks as causing "a burning sensation in my eyes, my mouth, and my throat. It settled into my hijab and into my other clothing, so much so that when I finally went home hours later, that stinging feeling was still there."

The encampment at UCLA on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

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Frank Stoltze

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LAist

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Nancy Mithlo, a professor who teaches gender studies, told LAist that she’s disappointed in how UCLA has handled the protests.

“They refused to protect our students that were engaging in civil disobedience, were engaging in their right to free speech, that were doing actually what we want them to do here,” Mithlo said.

A group of faculty and staff are demanding in a letter to Block that peaceful protesting students do not face disciplinary action and that the encampment be allowed to continue without an “illegal” designation. The letter concludes by warning that a one-day work stoppage has already been proposed by the Faculty for Justice in Palestine group as they’re prepared to deepen their support for students.

In an interview Wednesday morning with NPR, reporter Steve Futterman said "things have really calmed down" after high tension overnight.

"A few hours ago it was anything but," he said, "there were pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israeli counterprotesters essentially facing off. There were numerous scuffles, lots of pushing fist fights, nasty words exchanged."

Samuel Ahmed, a first-year graduate student who is part of UCLA's encampment, told LAist that the community within the camp is feeling "more resolute and more willing to fight for what we're fighting for.”

Ahmed said the violence started around 10 p.m. Tuesday when masked counterprotesters showed up to the encampment, which he said is made up of about 300 tents.

"All of a sudden, people, 30 or 40 students [in the pro-Palestinian camp], just fall to the ground covering their eyes screaming for help," he said. "From there, it was just a nonstop onslaught, a barrage of weaponry just attacked at us, bricks just slamming at our barriers. This persisted for several hours while the university police, the private security they had hired to somehow keep the peace, just stood idly by watching."

Students inside the encampment were starting to wake up shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, with one person picking up trash and a strong skunk smell lingering in the air.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in statements that his office was closely monitoring the situation at UCLA and that he condemns the violence that unfolded.

"The law is clear: The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus," Newsom said in a statement. "Those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions — including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion."

Bass said she’s spoken with Newsom and thanked him for his continued support.

Muslim community leaders respond

Amir Mertaban, the executive director of Islamic Society of Orange County reached UCLA at around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. He said community leaders in the Muslim community were responding after receiving multiple calls, messages, and texts from students in the encampments.

“I saw was something that I never thought I would ever see in L.A. and that was students getting attacked, and at night, with the lights on, masked students with pepper spray, bear spray, mace, pipes, bats,” Mertaban said. “I never thought I would see this level of violent attacks on students at UCLA, while UCPD, the LAPD, the Sheriffs, Highway Patrol, all had their backs turned while this was happening right behind them.”

Many of the students, he said, had to be transported to hospital by car.

Mertaban added that doctors from the Muslim community also rushed to UCLA overnight to set up a makeshift medic tent within the encampment with milk, saline and other supplies.

“The Muslims, Palestinians and their supporters are concerned for the safety of our communities,” he said. “We haven't seen this vitriol and violence since 9/11.”

Mertaban said he visited the encampment over the weekend too and “nothing violent is happening.”

UCLA Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

How we're reporting this

LAist reporters Yusra Farzan and Frank Stoltze reported from the campus throughout the day. Stoltze remained on the scene until late Wednesday. Makenna Sievertson reported from LAist's newsroom. Farzan wrote and reported earlier in the morning from sources at the camp and official statements. Karina Gacad, Tiffany Ujiiye, Megan Garvey and Jason Wells have done editing on this breaking news coverage.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials, community organizers and reporters on the ground). We do our best to verify the information being provided is accurate. Sometimes, however, we make mistakes and/or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

Beyond the Rose Bowl and historic bungalows, Pasadena has stranger tales to tell. David Kalbeitzer has been seeking out those stories where rocket science meets the occult and ghosts haunt the city’s grandest buildings.

For Kalbeitzer, a Disney executive who investigates the paranormal in his free time, his fascination with the city’s mysterious side started when he bought a Victorian north of Old Town.

He sensed a spirit at the open house a dozen years ago and took it as a reason to move his family to Pasadena. Then he started learning the city’s history.

David Kalbeitzer, a paranormal investigator from Pasadena, is giving a talk about the city's strange history Saturday night in Old Town.

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Courtesy of David Kalbeitzer

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“I realized, ‘Oh, this place called us just as much as we were looking for it,’” he said.

On Saturday night, he’s sharing the lore he’s collected at Mesmer Mesmer an Old Town shop and event space. While the event is full, there’s a waitlist, and more talks featuring Kalbeitzer are in the works.

A city of ghost stories 

Ask Kalbeitzer about haunted Pasadena, and the list stretches from alleyways to the Colorado Street Bridge to Castle Green, the turreted former hotel overlooking Central Park.

“The Pasadena Playhouse theater is, you know, very haunted,” he added.

He says playgoers have reported hearing disembodied voices.

“And you look, and there’s no one there, or apparitions that have been seen sort of standing in the corner, and then you walk up, and they kind of disappear,” he said.

As for the spirit that helped draw him to his current Pasadena home?

Kalbeitzer says she’s still around — and a psychic friend says she has a name: Dolores.

“It’s actually haunted by a very kind ghost that looks out for the house, protects my family and has been able to activate our alarm,” he said.

Having a Dolores in the house might send some people running, but Kalbeitzer said he grew up in a haunted house in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

And when his family moved to Charleston, South Carolina, a teenage Kalbeitzer started seeking out places known for paranormal activity.

Rocket science, ritual magic and mind-reading

Having lived in different neighborhoods in L.A., Kalbeitzer says there’s something uniquely otherworldly about Pasadena — and it goes beyond ghost stories.

He said the city has an energy that draws people exploring the unknown, perhaps most famously Jack Parsons.

The rocket pioneer who helped launch the Jet Propulsion Laboratory also practiced ritual magic at his Pasadena home with the likes of L. Ron Hubbard before he founded Scientology.

“Many people call it the occult. I don’t know that I fully subscribe to that, but there is spiritualism and occult mixed in there,” Kalbeitzer said.

Then there was Upton Sinclair, the muckraking author of The Jungle, whose interests while living in Pasadena extended to telepathy and séances.

Upton Sinclair, pictured with his wife Mary Craig Sinclair in 1935, several years after he published a book examining her reported telepathy.

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Los Angeles Times via Wikimedia Commons

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In 1930, Sinclair published Mental Radio, a book about experiments in mind-reading. Albert Einstein provided a preface. Yes, that Einstein, who would spend the following winter at Caltech expanding on the theories of relativity and cosmology.

“Like it’s the craziest mixture of things that were happening at that time and all of it at the same time,” Kalbeitzer said.

A presence in the shop 

The event couldn’t have found a more appropriate venue.

Since opening five months ago in Old Town, Mesmer Mesmer has embraced the dark and mysterious, offering tarot and crystal readings and hosting events on subjects such as hip-hop’s relationship with ghosts.

At that event, a medium told owner Tyke O’Brien she could sense a presence in the shop, which formerly housed a bridal store.

“She goes, ‘Do you ever feel it?’” O’Brien recounted, “And I’m like, ‘I am such a bummer. I really wish I could. How wonderful would that be to be able to?’”

The same can be said for this writer who’s lived and worked in and around Pasadena for years without so much as a brush with the otherworldly.

Kalbeitzer, on the other hand, reports supernatural encounters all around town.

“I think that how you see yourself in the world has a lot more to do with it, and whether you want to have those experiences,” he said.

Los Angeles officials expect construction of a fence around MacArthur Park will start in November and continue through fall 2027. 

At a community meeting Thursday night at MacArthur Park Elementary School, officials said fence installation is now expected to continue through fall 2027, overshooting the previously announced spring 2027 completion date.

Thursday’s meeting highlighted the divide over the city’s plan to fence off MacArthur Park, with tensions rising during public comment. The Los Angeles Police Department says the fence will make drug enforcement easier, while some in the community who volunteer around the park questioned whether it will improve safety enough to justify the cost.

The city has allocated $2.3 million for the project, but officials have not said whether that will cover the full cost.

Installation of the green metal fence around the park’s perimeter is expected to begin in November and take about a year. A second phase, adding decorative elements to the fence, is planned for fall and winter 2027. Officials said the schedule could change because of weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

The park is expected to remain open during construction.

Capt. Ben Fernandes with the LAPD’s Rampart Division said the fence would create a barrier along Alvarado Street and other areas where officers have seen people using narcotics. That would allow police to focus more of their enforcement efforts inside the park, he said.

“So if people are going deeper into the park to use, that’ll make it easier for us to go in and do enforcement on them and arrest them for that use,” Fernandes said. 

MacArthur Park will close every night once an 8-foot-tall fence goes up around the green space, with Los Angeles police officers sweeping the park for encampments and people sleeping there before the gates shut. The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved the plan Thursday.

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LA Recreation and Parks

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“I’ve been an officer for 29 years, and I’ve always known I can go buy drugs there, and I did as a narcotics officer. So what I’m saying is, we are trying to make it not convenient,” he added. 

Fernandes also said the city plans to enhance the park’s existing camera network. LAPD officers and Los Angeles Park Rangers will be able to monitor the cameras from their respective stations, he said. City officials are still evaluating whether additional cameras will be needed to address blind spots in the park after construction is complete.

Ariana Walker, who visits MacArthur Park every Saturday with a group of friends who pool their own resources to distribute food and hygiene kits, questioned whether the city had shown that the fence would improve safety and how much it would cost to maintain.

“The fence is a $2.3 million fence at the base level,” she said. “And they haven’t given us any indication of how much more it’s going to cost for upkeep, to keep anybody safe. There’s no conclusive evidence that a fence is going to stop crime the way that they’re suggesting.”

The meeting grew tense when John Alle, a local property owner whose family owns the building that houses Langer’s Delicatessen across the street from the park, objected to having his comments read from a written comment card rather than speaking directly to officials. Alle has been a vocal critic of the city’s response to drug activity and public safety concerns around MacArthur Park.

He was allowed to comment during the meeting and said the city needs to take a tougher approach to drug use and sales around the park. 

“We see knife attacks at all hours of the day. It’s out of control. And it’s not gotten any better,” he said. “We want to bring it back to where it was 15 or 20 years ago.”

Los Angeles officials expect construction of a fence around MacArthur Park will start in November and continue through fall 2027.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Alle pointed to public events at the park, including an upcoming Día de los Muertos celebration and a Labor Day weekend picnic hosted by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman as positive developments for the space. But he added those events do not reflect conditions throughout the park.

Officials also outlined other planned improvements, including restoring access through the tunnels connecting the park’s north and south sides, making accessibility upgrades and providing free Wi-Fi for parkgoers. 

Residents who want to provide input on the fence’s decorative elements can email admin@themorcosgroup.com or call (310) 479-4727 for more information.

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