Dozens of arrests at UCLA as riot police storm protest after hundreds standoff against police

Dozens of arrests have been made on a Los Angeles university campus after riot police stormed a protest camp.

Hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters had stayed behind barricades on a Los Angeles university campus despite a police dispersal order after violent clashes with counter-protesters.

Officers in tactical gear removed barricades and moved in on hundreds of protesters who defied orders to leave, scuffling with protesters and detaining some.

They entered the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus next to a complex of tents filled with demonstrators - some of whom wore hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the raid - a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.

Outside the tent city, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists jeered at the police, shouting "Shame on you," banging drums and waving Palestinian flags as officers advanced onto the campus grounds.

The demonstrators, many wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, also chanted "Disclose, divest, we will not stop. We will not rest," and "Free free Palestine."

A much smaller group of demonstrators waving Israeli flags urged the police to shut down the encampment, yelling: "Hey hey, ho-ho, the occupation has got to go."

Violence erupted overnight with counter-protesters setting off fireworks towards the pro-Palestinian camp, according to the UCLA student newspaper the Daily Bruin.

The newspaper said on X, formerly Twitter, that counter-protesters attempted to take down protective barricades, with reports of "noxious gas" being released into the air near the camp.

"By this point, nearly half a dozen releases of noxious gas have occurred at the protest site," the Daily Bruin reported. "Many in the crowd outside the barricade are coughing, leaving and backing up from the site."

Video circulating on social media appeared to show crowds of people approaching and surrounding the camp, some armed with large sticks.

Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA strategic communications, said the fire service and medical personnel were on the scene.

"Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support," she said late on Tuesday. "We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end."

US universities have been gripped by a wave of protests over the war in Gaza as students demand they stop doing business with Israel or companies supporting its invasion.

In New York, riot police this week burst into a building at Columbia University occupied by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had paralysed the campus.

Officers used ladders to climb in to Hamilton Hall through a window and later said almost 300 people were arrested.