Police make first arrest for attack on pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA

Police charged Edan On, an 18-year-old high school student, with aggravated assault for attacking at least one person with a wooden pole. He was transferred to a Los Angeles jail, where he is being held on $30,000 bail, according toThe guardOn was first identified for his role in the mob attack, led by so-called counter-protesters, in a CNNInvestigation published on May 16.

“The video shows On joining the counter-protesters, waving a long white pole.” CNN reported. “At one point he hits a pro-Palestinian protester with the pole and appears to continue hitting him even after he is already on the ground while other counter-protesters charge at him.”

“The footage appears to show Edan On, wearing a white hoodie, and others beating a pro-Palestinian protester on the ground,” CNN reported. (Source: CNN/Key News Network)

The pro-Israel mob left more than 25 protesters hospitalized with “fractures, severe cuts and chemical-related injuries,” and more than 150 were attacked with bear and pepper spray. CNN reported.

Thistle Boosinger, a 23-year-old member of the camp, had his hand shattered. “My bone is completely broken in half below my ankle… [which is] fragmented and confused,” she said CNN. In another incident during the attack, a fourth-year UCLA student suffered two head injuries within minutes. After being hit in the forehead with a traffic cone, he was struck in the back of the head with a wooden board, a video shows.

The CNN The investigation identified some of the other attackers and documented the violence of the attack, which lasted seven hours. Videos showed not only violence but also hateful rhetoric. An unidentified person in a hoodie who, like On, once attacked a pro-Palestinian protester with a pole shouted, “You guys are about to get killed,” “Fuck you, you fucking terrorists,” and “It's 30,000” – a reference to the death toll in Gaza.

The mob also shouted “Second Nakba!” at the demonstrators, referring to the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland in the late 1940s, according to one Los Angeles Times Reporter.

On's mother, who had previously called the protesting UCLA students “human animals,” bragged about his role in the attack on social media, even circling a picture of him. “Edan went to harass the Palestinian students in the tents at UCLA and played the song they played to the Nukhba terrorists in prison!” she wrote in Hebrew. CNN reported. When the On news agency asked for an interview, his mother claimed that he was in Israel and planned to join the Israel Defense Forces.

“Video footage shows that some counter-demonstrators instigated the fighting,” CNN reported. “Then the police did little as a large group of counter-protesters quietly walked away, leaving bleeding, injured students and other protesters behind.”

That laissez-faire approach has drawn criticism in light of police crackdowns on campus protesters across the country, even though the protests have been mostly nonviolent. More than 800 UCLA faculty and staff signed a letter calling for the resignation of university chancellor Gene Block—and urging him to heed student demands to divest from defense contractors and their support systems—but the Academic Senate narrowly voted against censure.

News of On's arrest followed other events related to pro-Palestinian activism at UCLA on Thursday. Block testified before the Republican-led U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce, whose members questioned him about a lack of attention to anti-Semitism on campus. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) took an opposing position, asking why no one had been held accountable for the mob attack. Los Angeles Times reported.

While Block was testifying, student activists took the opportunity to set up a new camp. At one point, they gathered a group of about 300 people in an academic hall. However, the group had to move twice and was removed relatively quickly by police in riot gear, according toThe New York TimesThis may have marked a new approach by the bloc administration towards the protests.

Block told the House committee on Thursday: “In hindsight, we should have been prepared to evacuate the camp immediately if the safety of our community was at risk.”