More than three weeks after a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of California, Los Angeles was attacked by counter-protesters, campus police have made their first arrest in connection with the attack: an 18-year-old man who police say beat pro-Palestinian protesters with a wooden club.
UCLA police did not release the man's name, but arrest records identify him as Edan Ong. He is charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon. Police say he seriously injured at least one person.
Video of the April 30 attack on the encampment shows a man wearing a light-colored hoodie and a white mask swinging a stick at several protesters. In one photo, the man appears to have blood on the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
Ong's mother told CNN the man in the video was her son, but later denied he was there, the station said. She told CNN last week that her son was a high school senior who planned to join the Israeli army.
Police said Ong was arrested at a store in Beverly Hills on Thursday morning. His bail was set at $30,000, according to jail records.
Mr Ong's parents declined to comment on Friday.
UCLA police have been under intense pressure to identify and charge the protesters involved in the April 30 attack, but police allowed it to continue for hours without intervening.
The university created a new Office of Campus Safety, temporarily removed its police chief and hired an outside police consultant to review its response to the attack.
Rick Braziel, the new director of the Office of Campus Safety, said in a statement Friday that university police are working hard to further identify the attacker. “Those who perpetrate violence in our community will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
The attack took place a few days after students had set up the camp as part of student demonstrations protesting Israel's invasion and bombing of Gaza. On the evening of April 30, a group of anti-Israel protesters arrived and tried to break up the camp, some of them with pro-Israel slogans written on their clothes and playing the Israeli national anthem. They pulled barricades out of the camp, punched and kicked protesters, and set off fireworks into the crowd.
It wasn't until around 3 a.m. on May 1 that police officers in riot gear intervened and separated the two groups. No arrests were made at that time.
The following evening, UCLA called in city police officers to help remove the encampment, and more than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after they refused to leave.
UCLA President Gene Block testified before a congressional committee on Thursday about the school's response to student protests on campus. During the hearing, Block was grilled by Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar about why no protesters involved in the April 30 attack have been arrested.
“Are any of these people in prison?” she asked.
Jail records show Ong was arrested during Dr Brock's testimony, but the arrest was not made public until Friday.
Jonathan Wolf He contributed reporting from Los Angeles. Alain Delaquerière contributed to the research.