Man who was identified in attack on UCLA protest encampment arrested

Will Carless, USA TODAY
Updated

More than three weeks after a group of counter-protesters attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, one person has been arrested in the case.

Edan On, 18, was arrested Thursday and held in lieu of $30,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. CNN had identified On, age 18, as one of the attackers in a special report last week.

Campus police said On had been "seen on video assaulting encampment occupants with a wooden pole." He was arrested Thursday and booked for felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said the arrest came after an investigation that included interviewing victims and witnesses and "reviewing security camera footage and publicly available videos from members of the public and the media." They said the man was not a student or member of faculty or staff at UCLA.

The On family did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

On's arrest appears to be the first in the case of the attack, which became a flashpoint in the demonstrations against the war in Gaza that swept campuses across the country this spring.

Protestors stand, two waving a Palestinian Flag, on the barricade set up on the eastern end of Dickson Court. Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with law enforcement as officials clear demonstrator encampments on UCLA's campus on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, Calif.
Protestors stand, two waving a Palestinian Flag, on the barricade set up on the eastern end of Dickson Court. Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with law enforcement as officials clear demonstrator encampments on UCLA's campus on May 2, 2024 in Los Angeles, Calif.

The attack on UCLA encampment

The pro-Palestinian encampment had occupied the school's Dickson Plaza for about a week before the attack. Counter-protesters had picketed the encampment for at least two nights prior, but violence had not broken out.

Then, late on the night of April 30 into May 1, counter-protesters began to attack the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Livestream video from the night showed a series of violent beatings that lasted for hours.

Police face-off with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. Police deployed a heavy presence on US university campuses on May 1 after forcibly clearing away some weeks-long protests against Israel's war with Hamas.

UCLA issued a statement saying it had “immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support.” Yet police officers arrived almost three hours later. No counter-protesters were arrested at the time.

A day later, multiple police agencies swept the pro-Palestinian encampment and cleared it from campus. At least 200 people were arrested as the camp was shut down, according to the university. The university announced that the encampment had been cleared, in part, because "clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators put too many Bruins in harm’s way."

The school faced continued questions about how it had handled the counterprotesters who had begun that violence. Six days after the attack, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said the school was "committed to finding those responsible."

University police said Friday that they are "actively working to identify the other perpetrators of violence associated with any protest or counter-protest activities."

Will Carless is a national correspondent covering extremism and emerging issues. Contact him at wcarless@usatoday.com. Follow him on X @willcarless.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Edan On arrested by UCLA, charged with felony assault on protesters

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