Los Angeles, United States:
In-person classes will resume Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles, university officials said, after being moved online following clashes on campus between pro-Palestinian protesters and police.
Demonstrations against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza have rocked American campuses across the country for weeks, prompting a crackdown, mass arrests and a White House directive to restore order.
UCLA said Friday it had moved classes online after a large police contingent forcibly cleared a sprawling encampment. Clashes have also broken out between demonstrators and pro-Israel counter-protesters.
“The campus will return to normal operations (on Monday) … and plans to remain that way for the remainder of the week,” according to a statement posted on the university's website on Sunday.
“There is still a police presence on campus to promote safety,” the message said.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said “urgent changes” are needed in campus security operations, adding that a new office would take charge.
“It is clear that UCLA needs a unity and leader whose sole responsibility is campus safety to guide us through tense times,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
Rick Braziel, the former chief of the Sacramento Police Department, was appointed to lead the office.
More than 2,000 arrests have been made in the United States in the past two weeks, some during violent confrontations with police, prompting accusations of the use of excessive force.
President Joe Biden, who has faced pressure from all political quarters over the conflict in Gaza, has said that “order must prevail” on American campuses.
The Gaza war began when Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,683 people, mostly women and children, according to Israel's Health Ministry.
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