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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The police chief of the University of California, Los Angeles, who was criticized for his handling of a violent mob attack in May on pro-Palestinian activists encamped at UCLA, has left the campus police department.
“10. December 2024 was former UCLA Police Chief John Thomas’ last day with UCLA and the UCLA Police Department,” the department said Thursday.
UCLA Police Capt. Scott Scheffler will serve as interim police chief until a permanent chief is selected, the department added.
The statement did not provide details about the reasons for his departure. Thomas could not immediately be reached for comment. He told the Los Angeles Times in May that he did “everything I could” to ensure security and keep students safe.
Thomas was “temporarily deployed” for three weeks after the May attack, pending a review of security processes, according to UCLA.
In one of the most violent incidents since US protests related to Israel’s war in Gaza, masked assailants, described by officials as “instigators”, stormed a tented camp of pro-Palestinian protesters with bats and clubs. Residents of the camp said that fireworks were also thrown at them.
The situation continued for at least three hours in the early morning of May 1 before the police moved in and restored order.
California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the “limited and delayed campus police response” as unacceptable.
The following night, hundreds of state and local police raided the protest camp, arresting over 200 people.
The unrest thrust UCLA into the center of weeks of escalating tensions on dozens of American college campuses, which have led to protests against Israel’s war that has killed nearly 45,000 in the past 14 months in Gaza, according to the local health ministry, and led to genocide and war crimes charges. which Israel denies.
The Israeli attack followed a deadly attack by Palestinian militants Hamas on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200, according to Israeli reports, and sparked the latest bloodshed in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The anti-war protesters objected to Washington’s support for Israel and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where almost the entire population has been displaced and there is a hunger crisis.
