Chaos Erupts At UCLA After Pro-Gaza Activists Refuse Entry To Non-Allied Students

It's like the Seattle CHAZ encampment all over again.  Far-left activists have declared the UCLA campus a "liberated zone" and are refusing entry for many students not affiliated with the pro-Gaza protests.  They have erected barriers and placed guards, creating makeshift checkpoints which require a special wrist band in order to gain passage.

In other words, if you aren't an "ally" then you don't get to attend classes, or, if you're lucky you are allowed to take a longer route around the barricades.  Keep in mind, this is not a protected form of protest or free speech, which explains why many college campuses have chosen to have protesters removed by police.  UCLA so far appears to be supporting the activists and has allowed them to take control. 

The barricades and the selective barring of certain students has led to predictable anger.  Various groups are now engaging protesters and have triggered what can only be described as an all out brawl.  The use of weapons has been common and firecrackers have even been fired at activist tents.  Whether or not the fighting is between pro-Gaza and pro-Israel groups is not yet clear, and the conflict may simply be a matter of students enraged by the general blockade.  No substantial police presence is visible so far.

Though considerable criticism has been aimed at the police response to similar encampments at universities in other states and no doubt some of those actions will be reviewed in civil courts, there has been very little sympathy from the general public when it comes to woke protesters.  After years of cancel culture and the threat of Antifa and BLM mobs, we are now seeing the same exact people pummeled by law enforcement and kicked out of the tent cities choking college grounds.  Questions of free speech fall by the wayside when activists try to physically block other students from exercising their right to access public property and educational facilities.

A police response to clear UCLA of protesters is widely expected within the next couple of days.

Leftists have a tendency to hijack the causes of other movements as a way to elevate their own agendas, and this is exactly what is happening in the west with the Gaza issue.  It is rather revealing that these protesters aren't amassing on Joe Biden's doorstep or the halls of Congress. The people most directly responsible for the funding of Israel for some reason get a pass while US colleges with no power to change anything in the Middle East are overrun.  

Is this simply a matter of what is easy?  Or, is there another motive at play?  Is this about speaking out about Gaza, or is it about radicalizing an ever growing mob that can be manipulated by progressive gatekeepers, just as we witnessed with the BLM riots?