Dozens arrested after UCSD protesters, police clash in wake of early-morning sweep

A contingent of state and local law enforcement officers moved in force to dismantle a pro-Palestinian student encampment at UC San Diego Monday morning, arresting protesters who had occupied the site since last week.

In a statement the university said the encampment was illegal and its continued presence posed a danger. 

“At approximately 6 a.m. today, University of California San Diego Police, CHP and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department successfully and peacefully dismantled an illegal encampment on the UC San Diego campus,” the statement said. 

“The decision to vacate the site was based on the danger arising from a prolonged event in terms of health, fire, safety and security. One minor injury was reported. No official number of arrests is available at this time. The campus is still an active police operation.”

Police moved on the encampment near Geisel Library on the school’s West campus around  6 a.m. Videos from the site showed scores of helmeted police in flak jackets milling about and several moving through the camp taking down tents.

The camp was set up on May 1 and grew to several dozen tents by the weekend. 

University spokesperson Leslie Sepuka said that 64 people were arrested. Of those, 40 were students and 24 “unaffiliated or their status is unknown at this time. “

The arrested students were placed under immediate interim suspension, Sepuka said. She did not immediately say what charges the arrested individuals were facing.

Later, another university spokesperson said all those arrested were charged with unlawful assembly. They were booked into jail and released.

Tensions escalated when a bus arrived to take the arrested people off campus. Law enforcement officers shoved a crowd of protesters away, using their batons and striking some.

As the crowd tried to stop the bus from leaving, police made a line around the vehicle as it made its way slowly down the street, with police continuing to shove and keep the crowd away. Some protesters were shoved or fell to the ground in the confrontation.

An inewsource reporter filming the scene was among those being pushed back by the police and their batons. When he identified himself as press, one law enforcement officer pulled him through the police line where police were creating an opening. But then another shoved him to the ground causing him to lose his cell phone, and pulled at his camera and camera bag. Meanwhile, protesters shouting “he’s press!” pulled the reporter back through the police line and helped him stand up.

The university sent out an all-campus emergency message in the morning advising that West campus was closed from North Torrey Pines Road to Interstate 5. “All events scheduled for today on West Campus should be canceled, rescheduled or moved to a remote operation,” the advisory said.

By 8 a.m. a line of police faced off with protesters chanting slogans to free Palestine and end the occupation of the Gaza strip by Israel.

The police sweep came after a weekend where tensions at the encampment, which had been peaceful since getting set up, escalated. On Sunday UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Kholsa issued a statement saying the encampment “poses an unacceptable safety and security hazard on campus.”

He said the protesters had broken a commitment they made earlier not to increase the size of the encampment and its presence had become increasingly worrisome for the university. 

“In the last week, the encampment has limited free movement on campus, created a checkpoint for entry into the camp, and denied access to the fire marshal and health inspectors,” he wrote. “As time passes, the threat and potential for violent clashes increases. The presence of a significant number of non-affiliates in the encampment heightens these concerns.”

Also on Sunday a counter-protest was closely monitored by police, but despite some tense moments the two sides remained peaceful. 

UCSD is one of scores of universities around the nation where students and Palestinian supporters have set up camps to protest the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which has led to tens of thousands of people being killed or injured, many of them Palestinian civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel launched military actions in Gaza after Hamas militants entered Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 civilians and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. 

At UCSD, the protesters want the university to end its relationships with weapons manufacturers such as General Atomics and Lockheed Martin that are “complicit in the ongoing genocidal assault in Gaza,” according to a Monday news release from the “UCSD Divest Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” 

UCSD has not provided inewsource any details on its investments.

(This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.)