Students protests at UCLA, USC involving hundreds of arrests result in two charged
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It's Sunday. I'm your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here's what you need to know:
Hundreds of protesters and counterprotesters were arrested on the campuses of UCLA and USC during several days of demonstrations and unrest last spring stemming from the United States' involvement in the war in Gaza.
At UCLA's Dickson Court, Times reporters documented how events 'exploded into savagery and chaos.' A large, mostly male crowd of masked counterdemonstrators tried to break into an encampment of protesters, ripping down wood and metal barriers, spraying bear mace, igniting stink bombs and tossing fireworks near the camp perimeter — and in at least one case inside the camp.
At USC, students received two 10-minute warnings to disperse by Los Angeles police, followed by an LAPD helicopter loudspeaker blasting a message that said: 'Your time is up. Leave the area or you will be arrested for trespassing.' Eventually, close to 100 students were arrested.
Then-UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called the incident 'a dark chapter in our campus's history' while USC President Carol Folt said the site of the protests 'became unsafe.'
Nearly a year after the protests, the Los Angeles city attorney's office said it would not file criminal charges against the vast majority of students and protesters arrested because of a lack of evidence. Some groups were thankful for the limited action, others were happy that at least two were charged.
My colleague Ruben Vives broke the news Friday of the decision by City Atty. Haydee Feldstein Soto.
How many are being charged and why?
Feldstein Soto said that although her office received more than 300 referrals from arrests made during last spring's demonstrations at both campuses, only two people would be charged.
Three others will be referred to informal prosecutorial proceedings.
'Most of these cases were declined for evidentiary reasons or due to a university's failure or inability to assist in identification or other information needed for prosecution,' the statement from her office reads.
Who was charged?
Edan On and Matthew Katz have been identified as the two suspects facing criminal charges.
On, a pro-Israel demonstrator, was charged with battery and assault with a deadly weapon. Katz was charged with battery, false imprisonment and resisting arrest, according to the city attorney's office. Most of those charges are misdemeanors.
Both were arrested on suspicion of the alleged conduct at UCLA.
Three others — identified as Ali Abuamouneh, Karla Maria Aguilar and David Fischel — were sent to city attorney hearings, which are informal proceedings conducted as an alternative to a misdemeanor criminal prosecution, according to the statement.
Abuamouneh and Aguilar were arrested at USC; Fischel was arrested at UCLA.
Some reaction to the news
The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) welcomed the filing of criminal charges against On.
'For far too long, our communities have demanded accountability for the brutal assault on peaceful, largely student-led demonstrators — an assault that left several injured and traumatized while law enforcement stood by and failed to intervene,' said Dina Chehata, a CAIR-LA civil rights managing attorney. 'This filing is an important step, but it is only the first step.'
Amelia Jones, a professor and vice dean of faculty and research at USC's Roski School of Art and Design, expressed support for Feldstein Soto's decision to not file charges against most protesters.
'[Her] decision not to file criminal charges on the vast majority of students arrested by LAPD on USC's campus last spring ratifies the student and faculty right to protest as a fundamental and lawful 'exercise of speech,' in her words,' she wrote in a statement to The Times. 'As a supporter of the students and someone who attended the entirely peaceful protests almost every day, I am thrilled to see this issue resolved and freedom of speech ratified.'
For more on the situation, check out the full story.
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