Police Dismantle New Encampment at UCLA; Chancellor Testifies to Congress on Anti-Semitism

The chancellor told lawmakers ‘we should have been prepared to immediately remove the encampment’ that ended in 209 arrests in early May.

LAPD officers keep watch after they cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles on May 23, 2024. The protest coincided with the congressional hearing on campus protests where UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified. Mario Tama/Getty Images

On the day the chancellor of the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) testified before Congress about efforts to combat anti-Semitism on campus, pro-Palestinian activists again set up barricades and established another encampment at the school May 23, but it was quickly dismantled and later moved into a classroom building.

Protesters on Thursday morning used tables, metal fences, plywood, and other materials to block off a section of campus between Kerckhoff and Moore halls, a main walkway used by students traversing the Westwood campus.