Riot police successfully take control at UCLA, throwing away Hamas-endorsed radicals' Palestinian flag



Armored officers with the Los Angeles Police Department and California State Police took control of the illegal encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, early Thursday morning, busting through the Hamas-endorsed student radicals' barricades, flattening the occupiers' tents, and arresting some of those individuals who ignored their repeated warnings and invitations to leave.

The LAPD and other law enforcement agencies responded Tuesday night to the UCLA campus after the leftist university pleaded for help in dealing with the fallout of the same ideas taught inside its classrooms. It was not until Thursday morning that they were able to successfully overwhelm the radicals in Dickson Plaza.

Blaze News national correspondent Julio Rosas was on the scene as the pro-Hamas students, wearing masks and equipped with makeshift shields, faced off with the group of around 30 LAPD officers who initially breached the radicals' illegal encampment. The radicals can be heard taunting and castigating the officers, who had been flanked on both sides.

Anti-Israel protesters inside the encampment at UCLA lined up with shields to face LAPD officers.
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Rosas indicated that the outnumbered officers ultimately withdrew. As the officers gave up hard-won ground, they had to fight off elements of the frenzied mob, which pursued them out of the encampment.

"I'm not entirely sure what the reason was for them to make that first breach," Rosas told Blaze News. "But it wasn't a good one. Obviously."

Similar standoffs appear to have taken place around campus, where police apparently had difficulties making inroads largely on account of their incredible restraint.

\ud83d\udea8California Highway Patrolmen in riot gear are attempting to breach one side of the UCLA encampment. Occupiers rushed with people and shields to push back against the officers. So far CHP has not broken through this route.
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Radicals pelted officers with rocks and attempt to disorient them with fire extinguisher blasts while desperately maintaining their barricades. The officers, in turn, used multiple flash-bangs.

Absolute chaos right now. Occupiers are trying to hold the main makeshift wall as police repeatedly fire flashbangs.
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Evidently growing tired of the violent, selfie-taking mob's sporadic attacks, police began to push back in a big way around 3 a.m. PT.

"That's when the California Highway Patrolmen in riot gear started to make multiple breaches at the main side of the encampment, the side with the makeshift barriers," said Rosas. "They were fighting each other. Protesters were using their bodies. They had a ton of shields and palettes and material to keep pushing up against the riot officers."

Some of the radicals attempted to form a human chain, but the police evidently found a few weak links. Rosas noted that roughly 20 of those in the chain were arrested after police kettled them.

Rosas reported that around 3:30 a.m., police began to successfully tear down the main makeshift wall bordering the illegal encampment. Upon doing so, it quickly became clear that police would soon be able to raze the encampment and clear out the remaining radicals therein.

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CHP riot police advanced on the camp from other directions as well, tearing down the radicals' agitprop and pushing occupiers out of the way.

A CHP officer effectively signaled the radicals' defeat by flinging down the Palestinian flag at the heart of the illegal encampment.

While pushing back occupiers at UCLA, a California Highway Patrolman removed the big Palestinian flag in the middle of the encampment and threw it on the ground.
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Before dawn, officers effectively controlled the camp, littered with leftist propaganda and other radical refuse.

The encampment is almost cleared out. CHP is tearing down tents and pushing remaining occupiers out of the area.
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Rosas indicated that "it didn't need to come to this. ... If the encampment was cleared sooner, without giving the occupiers so much time to prepare for this, it would have been much easier for law enforcement to clear it out. But because this was allowed to take place for a while."

When asked about the rioters' initial success in repelling, Rosas suggested they "did a pretty good job at communicating with each other — to call for backup, call for materials, call for shields at different points of the border of the encampment. That's part of the reason why it took a while for police to take a significant foothold — because they were very flexible in putting manpower and material in their way."

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Good Samaritans subdue brute caught beating on highway patrol officer: 'Not very often that you see something like that'



A hulking brute gained the upper hand in a brawl with a California Highway Patrol officer Friday evening. Once trapped in a headlock, the motorcycle officer appeared short on time and air. He was not, however, short on friends.

Three Good Samaritans rushed into action, sparing the officer from possible doom and making good on the officer's earlier warning.

Everardo Navarro, 42, glimpsed the CHP officer on the receiving end of a beating off California's 5 freeway in Santa Ana, California.

"I just jumped," Navarro told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't think the officer was able to take control of that situation by himself, because the guy was very, very strong."

While the brute, who has been identified as 34-year-old Jaime Balderas Paniagua, may have appeared strong, Navarro's compulsion to act was stronger.

"I think about my kids at that moment," Navarro told KCAL-TV. "And at the same time, I did think the officer may have a family as well."

Navarro rushed across traffic to uphold the law and its highway enforcer. Two additional men swiftly joined Navarro in the effort.

KCAL indicated the officer had originally given the suspect a verbal warning for allegedly bending freeway signs and screaming at passersby. However, as the officer was preparing to ride away, Paniagua allegedly assailed him.

A video of the incident appears to show the suspect strike the officer, the officer respond, then both men grapple on the ground, with the suspect gaining the advantage on the road. At one stage, the suspect appears to get the officer into a headlock.

"When I actually get there, for a split second I didn't know what to do," said Navarro. "I just punched the guy in the ribs."

The Good Samaritan's flurry of punches to the suspect's solar plexus failed to free the officer, so he focused instead on breaking the choke hold.

In the footage of the incident, the other two Good Samaritans can be seen aiding the officer and ensuring the suspect couldn't grab the officer's sidearm.

Together, they successfully subdued the suspect and ensured the officer would live to ride again.

Anselmo Templado, a spokesman for the CHP, told KTLA, "Many of these situations, they end up becoming dangerous at a moment’s notice."

"I think it’s amazing that three Good Samaritans came in and stepped in and helped our officer out,” added Templado. "It’s not very often that you see something like that. Usually, it’s just people recording and standing by, but I just want to thank those three Good Samaritans for helping out our officer. It could’ve ended very badly, but luckily for them no one was seriously injured, and we got the subject under control."

Paniagua faces multiple charges including assault and battery on a peace officer and resisting arrest.

Video captures Good Samaritans rescuing CHP officer under attack in Orange County youtu.be

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