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University campuses from New York to Los Angeles simmered with rage and recriminations on Wednesday as they dealt with the fallout from police operations to quash protests over the war in Gaza.

The College of California, Los Angeles, cancelled classes on Wednesday after a violent night-time attack by counter-protesters on an encampment set up by professional-Palestinian pupil demonstrators.

UCLA officers declared the encampment an “unlawful assembly”, and by midnight dozens of police officers in riot equipment experienced gathered nearby. The university explained to students to stay away from the campus on Thursday and Friday, with classes scheduled to be held remotely.

In New York, mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for escalating anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University as he defended his police department’s conduct. New York law enforcement produced 282 arrests at Columbia and even more uptown at New York’s Town University on Tuesday night.

Columbia said its tests and courses would be distant for the remainder of the tutorial yr, with a police presence remaining on campus until eventually May well 17 — two days following graduation.

As the problem eased at Columbia and Metropolis College, a new encampment sprung up at Fordham University’s campus in midtown Manhattan, prompting even further warnings of police motion.

Soon after clashes concerning protesters at UCLA, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass named for a complete investigation into the “abhorrent and inexcusable” violence. “Those associated in launching fireworks at other folks, spraying substances and bodily assaulting other people will be uncovered, arrested and prosecuted, as perfectly as any individual included in any type of violence or lawlessness,” she reported. “Free speech will be safeguarded. Violence and bigotry will not.”

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, criticised the reaction by the university and its stability guards, expressing “the constrained and delayed campus law enforcement reaction at UCLA past night time was unacceptable — and it calls for answers”.

The Jewish Federation Los Angeles named the attack by the counter-protesters “abhorrent”, saying they “do not symbolize the Jewish group or our values”. But it also criticised the UCLA administration and named for the instant closure of encampments.

“People are unhappy and upset,” explained a person UCLA college member. “Everybody needs flexibility of speech and the appropriate to protest, but it is getting out of hand. It was a surprise to everybody that violence broke out.”

The clashes at UCLA came soon after two weeks of controversy at the close by University of Southern California, where by administrators cancelled a graduation speech by the valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, a Muslim lady, citing security issues.

In New York, officers equipped in riot gear stormed the Columbia campus late on Tuesday in a dramatic raid to oust protesters from two encampments and Hamilton Corridor, a making they had seized the preceding night time.

The NYPD did not right away release any aspects about the individuals included, but Ben Chang, a Columbia spokesperson, echoed the mayor’s opinions, indicating the team that seized Hamilton Hall had been “led by individuals not affiliated with the university”.

Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president, defended the conclusion to phone in the police, composing to the university’s employees and students that protesters experienced “pushed the university to the brink” and that her transfer arrived only after a number of attempts to de-escalate the situation via negotiations.

“Students and outdoors activists breaking Hamilton Corridor doorways, mistreating our public security officers and maintenance personnel, and harming house are acts of destruction, not political speech,” she wrote on Wednesday. The university also explained it was restricting accessibility to campus, contacting Hamilton Hall “an energetic criminal offense scene”.

Protesters at Columbia experienced demanded the university divest from companies that income from Israel and slice ties with an Israeli university. Quite a few Jewish learners complained vigorous activism experienced frequently boiled around into blatant antisemitism that would not have been tolerated by the administration if directed at other minority groups.

On Wednesday early morning, the neighbourhood all-around the university was quiet following two weeks of drumbeating protests that prompted comparisons with the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations that rocked Columbia in 1968.

The only indicator of the past night’s raid was the armed forces car utilized by the law enforcement to breach the 2nd flooring of Hamilton Corridor. It was parked throughout the street from the campus.

Inside of the gates, Columbia’s most important lawn appeared to have been cleared of the dozens of tents, draped in signals and banners, that fashioned the “Gaza solidarity encampment”.

A pupil who did not want to be named reported he uncovered the occupation of Hamilton Hall to be “disruptive” but the law enforcement response “disproportionately” substantial even so.

Another college student claimed “it was about time” to crystal clear the encampment and that Shafik could have acted before to prevent the protests from escalating.