UCLA arrests: Brutal police use grenades

Should we grow up to support war and police?

Anyone expecting a bloodbath was relieved this morning that police, led by the LAPD, exercised restraint in abusing student demonstrators at the UCLA encampment on campus. Students for Palestine had explosives hurled at them the night before, and although this violence was brought to them from the outside, it was used as a sufficient pretext to declare the gathering unlawful. Everyone was threatened with arrest and worse.

Give thugs guns. Don't be surprised they kill.

More than 500 cops (some say 800) rolled in like stormtroopers dressed for the riot they were there to provoke. Students held their ground, but eventually, after 1:00 am, police began the violent take down of the camp and tents, kettling students and subjecting them to arrest. Most students managed to get away, but those who were arrested report police abuses and brutality. Will wealthy parents step forward and defend their children in the court system or simply take it on faith that the paramilitary force did no more than was absolutely necessary to take youngsters into custody? At least those students now know what many of us had to learn long ago -- police do not arrive to protect but to impose obedience using the threat and exercise of violence. So next time victims of police abuse report it, take it as very likely to have happened. Mayor Bass was going to call out the National Guard, but fearing another Kent State massacre, they decided to be much nicer than they usually are.

(FOX 5 Washington DC) UCLA CAMPUS PROTESTS: Police lobbed flashbang grenades from projectile launchers to move in and begin dismantling pro-Palestinian encampment. This is RAW VIDEO of police removing barricades at an anti-Zionist-Israel demonstrators' encampment on the world-famous campus of UCLA. DETAILS: tinyurl.com/ytt4p35a

(AP) Live on the scene of the camp clean up and graffiti removal

Protesters continue to be arrested on the UCLA campus

(KCAL News) May 2, 2024: Over 100 people have been arrested at UCLA's pro-Palestinian (anti-Zionist-Israel) encampment as protesters are accused of "resisting" officers for not immediately all commands without question or hesitation. The CHP says multiple students and faculty members were among those being forcibly detained -- with zip tie handcuffs cutting off circulation to their hands as a little torture trick police are allowed to practice at will, even when it leads to permanent damage to nerves because petty acts of vengeance are fun and make the job personally empowering -- as law enforcement officers raided the pro-Palestinian encampment on UCLA's West Los Angeles campus.

• KCAL 9 News, Los Angeles, May 2, 2024; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY