UCLA Protests Erupt in Violence, as University Calls in LAPD

Counter protesters confronted a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the U.C.L.A. campus on Wednesday.

Administrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, called in law enforcement officers on Wednesday 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. The police had arrived at the campus by about 1:50 a.m., local time, Ms. Bass said on social media.

The clashes marked a sharp turn on a campus that had been among the most tolerant as protests swept campuses nationwide. On Tuesday, the university declared that the encampment was unlawful and threatened to suspend or expel any protesters that were students. It followed several violent confrontations between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters in recent days. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the violence on Wednesday morning.

A fight had broken out Monday night between the two groups as a group that supports Israel attempted to storm the pro-Palestinian encampment, prompting campus police officers to break up the dispute.

Videos posted to social media show clashes on Wednesday 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.

The U.C. Divest Coalition at U.C.L.A., which has been organizing pro-Palestinian protests at the university, said on social media on Wednesday that students at its encampment had been attacked by “fireworks, tear-gas, pepper spray and more.”

“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 early Wednesday.

“The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene,” she added. “We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”

The Los Angeles Police Department said that there had been “multiple acts of violence within the large encampment” on the campus. In response to a request from the University, the police was assisting campus police and other agencies “to restore order and maintain public safety.”

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. Ms. Bass said in a later post that “the violence unfolding this evening at UCLA is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.”