Fireworks launched into a group of students. Mace. Vicious slurs and unabated assault. A pro-Israel mob enacted this and more upon the pro-Palestine encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday night, as the police stood by and let it happen.
The scenes inspired outrage across the country, and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the police for failing to respond to the attacks. Undeterred by the violence, the students stood their ground in the encampment, a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza. They were joined by university employees who raised a banner that read “We stand with our students.” The UCLA chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine called for a day of strike in solidarity with their students and in protest of the administration. By Wednesday night, the police finally responded: shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at the pro-Palestine students who had just…