California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) condemned the recent violence at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) on Wednesday — six days after pro-Palestinian activists set up an illegal encampment, using force to keep others out.
Governor @GavinNewsom statement on the violence that unfolded at @UCLA.
The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus. pic.twitter.com/6XCicntdEp
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) May 1, 2024
Newsom had been silent before, as had University of California president Michael Drake. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block only condemned the encampment on Tuesday, warning that students involved could face consequences.
The activists invaded the central plaza of UCLA on Thursday, setting up wooden barricades. On Friday, activists physically assaulted this reporter and refused to let members of the media enter the public space to film the protest.
UCLA apparently delegated security authority to the activists, who began patrolling the perimeter of their encampment, granting access only to those who had wristbands and denying passage to “Zionist” Jews and others.
Anyone who tried to walk to class across the public space was prevented, by force, from entering, and there were several scuffles. There were also scuffles with pro-Israel counter-protesters at a rally Sunday, where UCLA security was lacking. The activists forced pro-Israel counter-protesters, including small children, to walk through a gauntlet of aggressive pro-Palestinian activists. UCLA claimed it lacked personnel, but had guards around the encampment.
Finally, on Wednesday morning, after a night in which pro-Israel vigilantes and pro-Palestinian activists clashed on campus, with police only arriving hours into the melée, Newsom condemned violence, vandalism, and “lawlessness.”
The episode recalled the Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020, which then-candidate Joe Biden declined to condemn until three days in, when Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two, in self-defense.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.