Pro-Palestinian protest breaks out on UCLA campus, authorities monitoring

A large group of pro-Palestinian protestors marched on the UCLA campus on Tuesday, and authorities said it was being actively monitored.

Starting at around 3 p.m, KTLA’s Sky 5 captured footage of the protest, which featured signs condemning the University of California’s financial commitments to Israeli-owned businesses.

The footage showed several dozens of students marching throughout campus, eventually gathering at Westwood Plaza in front of Charles E. Young South. Demonstrations were completely peaceful as of 3:30 p.m.

In posts to social media starting at 3:20 p.m., the UCLA Police Department said it was confident that it had “sufficient resources” to handle the situation.

The protest comes as President Donald Trump has floated the idea of relocating Palestinians from Gaza and into other nearby countries, with the United States taking control of the Gaza strip. In recent days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared to be receptive to the idea, saying he and Trump had a “common strategy” in regards to Gaza.

Protests in relation to the Israel-Hamas war and Israeli occupation of Gaza are nothing new to the UCLA campus. Last spring, several demonstrations erupted into bouts of violence as pro-Israeli counter protesters clashed with students staging an encampment.

The response to the protests, initially peaceful, was criticized heavily and eventually led to the departure of former UCLA Police Chief John Thomas.