Campus protests live updates: Police clash with UCLA protesters after pro-Palestinian encampment defies order to leave
NBCMay 04
Campus Protests: Police Clear UCLA Encampment, Columbia Protesters Arraigned
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The Facts
California police officers began taking down the fortified pro-Palestine encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus early Thursday. The development came roughly 24 hours after the camp was attacked by pro-Israel protestors.
Most of the encampment was torn down by 5 a.m. local time. While some protesters remained as police closed in, others were handcuffed and led away. It's not clear how many of those arrested were affiliated with UCLA.
The Spin
Right narrative
The main group behind these encampments, Students for Justice in Palestine, is funded largely by George Soros's charities and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, among other wealthy elites. Organizers are paid thousands of dollars to build these encampments and buy the tents, food, and other resources used in most of them. Foreign money was likely also behind these illegal campus occupations, which is why police were justifiably called in to shut them down.
Left narrative
The 'outside agitator' trope has been used to crack down on peaceful protests for decades. From the Ku Klux Klan lying about "communists" infiltrating the civil rights movement to alleged agitators during the 2020 BLM protests, these evidence-lacking accusations have always existed as an excuse to arrest activists. Today, however, the tactic of calling protesters antisemitic is thrown into the mix, which allows the pro-Israel side to smear anti-Zionists as anti-Jewish.