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At U.C.L.A., Pro-Palestinian Protesters Clash With Police

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, clashed with law enforcement officers on Monday, sometimes physically, as they attempted to occupy outdoor areas and re-establish a protest encampment in the last days of the spring quarter.

More than 20 of the protesters were arrested on Monday night. Some were released after being given misdemeanor citations for disrupting the campus.

The demonstration began earlier Monday in the form of a funeral procession, winding its way through campus as protesters read the names of Palestinians killed during the Israel-Hamas war. It was the latest indication that protesters intended to remain vocal, ahead of commencement ceremonies later this week and a Wednesday decision from the University of California regents about who U.C.L.A.’s next chancellor will be.

The university has experienced a tumultuous spring. Violent attacks by supporters of Israel began on the night of April 30, followed about a day later by the dismantlement of a pro-Palestinian encampment, involving hundreds of arrests.

Administrators had allowed that encampment to stand for days, but on Monday, scores of police officers and private security guards moved in swiftly. In one instance, they rushed in to confront protesters who tried to barricade themselves in a courtyard. In another instance, two officers pointed nonlethal weapons toward protesters as another demonstrator was being arrested and taken into a campus building.

Security forces on Monday. U.C.L.A officials were far quicker to bring in a police response than they were in late April, after a pro-Palestinian encampment formed on campus.Credit…Mark Abramson for The New York Times

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