<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Clashes broke out today at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, as dozens of universities around the US struggle to contain similar protests.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">CNN reported that the clashes erupted between rival pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“At the request of UCLA, due to multiple acts of violence within the large encampment on their campus, the LAPD is responding to assist UCLA PD, and other law enforcement agencies, to restore order and maintain public safety,” LA police said in a post on social platform X.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Protesters and counter-protesters were seen clashing with sticks and tearing down metal barricades, TV images showed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Others were seen launching fireworks or hurling objects at each other in the dark – lit up with laser pointers and bright flashlights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">TV footage showed one group trying to pull down barriers while another brandished sticks as unidentified projectiles flew overhead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UCLA chancellor Gene D Block warned ahead of clashes that protesters including “both members of the UCLA community and others unaffiliated with our campus” had set up a camp last week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Many of the demonstrators, as well as counter-demonstrators who have come to the area, have been peaceful in their activism,” Block wrote in a letter posted on the university website yesterday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“But the tactics of others have frankly been shocking and shameful. We have seen instances of violence,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“These incidents have put many on our campus, especially our Jewish students, in a state of anxiety and fear.” - AFP </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>