The police chief for the University of California at Los Angeles has been removed from his post three weeks after campus officials came under fire for their handling of a violent, overnight mob attack on pro-Palestinian activists encamped at UCLA.
John Thomas, who was formally appointed UCLA police chief in January, has been "reassigned temporarily, pending an examination of our security processes," Vice Chancellor Mary Osako said in a statement on Wednesday (May 22).
Campus police Captain Gawin Gibson was named UCLA's acting chief of police effective on Tuesday (May 21), Osako said.
Thomas and other university officials, as well as the Los Angeles Police Department, drew criticism for their response to violence that flared at UCLA between pro-Palestinian activists and a group who attacked them late on the night of April 30.
The masked assailants, later described by university officials as "instigators," stormed the tent camp with clubs and poles. A pitched skirmish between the two sides lasted for at least three hours before police intervened.
Both sides traded blows and doused each other with pepper spray and bear repellant. Members of the pro-Palestinian side said firecrackers were thrown at them.
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