More than 200 UCLA students, faculty and staff were arrested early Thursday morning after police destroyed the campus Palestinian solidarity encampment, wielding batons and less-lethal munitions to break up the crowd and disassemble the barriers to the tent community that was erected one week ago.

The encampment, which stretched across the lawn by Royce Hall, was established last Thursday by hundreds of students calling for the University of California, Los Angeles, to divest from all companies with ties to Israel and disclose the finances of the schools foundation.

UCLAs encampment is just one of dozens of similar campus protests across the country since Israels military assault on Gaza, which was launched in response to Hamas Oct. 7 attack that left about 1,200 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. Since then, Israel Defense Forces have killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, according to local health officials.

Since April 18, when students at Columbia University in New York City began protesting Israels offensive in Gaza, more than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 college campuses nationwide.

By Thursday evening, hours before the UCLA encampment was destroyed, it hosted a vibrant community of students, faculty members and volunteers, and was equipped with donations of extra clothing, blankets, food, personal protective equipment, first-aid supplies, hygiene products, a space to pray and legal observers.

We have a program here. We have workshops, teach-ins, self-defense classes, said Ismael, a 22-year-old UCLA student who requested to be identified only by his first name. Ismael came to the encampment on Sunday straight from the airport after a camping trip, he said. Asked why he chose to participate in the protests, he said, Im against genocide.

Honestly, it was the most beautiful thing thats happened on campus throughout my eight years at UCLA, Can Aiksz, a professor in UCLAs anthropology department, said. It was multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith it was very beautiful to witness that the students could build these bridges.

The Playbook Of Authoritarianism

After initially tolerating the protests, university officials declared the encampment illegal on Tuesday, warning of consequences if protesters did not disband.

UCLA supports peaceful protest, but not activism that harms our ability to carry out our academic mission and makes people in our community feel bullied, threatened and afraid, university Chancellor Gene Block said. These incidents have put many on our campus, especially our Jewish students, in a state of anxiety and fear.

A large group of counter-protesters some of whom held Israeli flags descended on the campus late Tuesday night, attempting to tear down the barricades that surrounded the lawn.

Students, faculty and university staff told HuffPost that counter-protesters threw sticks, metal rods, traffic cones, chairs and electric scooters at the encampment, and sprayed chemical irritants that left lingering rashes. Some protesters said they were pulled into the crowd of counter-protesters and beaten.

Protesters reported that Los Angeles Police Department officers stood by and watched the violence unfold for hours without intervening.

Why arent you helping? Ismael recalled asking police officers. Despite everything, we maintained our stance on peaceful protest, he said, still wearing his bracelet from the emergency room, where he sought treatment for what he believes was pepper spray and tear gas.

Aidan Doyle, a 21-year-old junior at UCLA, said he was repeatedly pulled into the crowd of counter-protesters, who whipped him with sticks, threw a battery at his eye and sprayed him with chemical irritants. At one point, he said, he found himself looking at the nozzle of what he believed was a pepper spray gun. It was the most painful experience of my life, Doyle said of the attack, his shirt still bloodied and his hands still covered in red rashes.