The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a motion to ensure that the public defender’s office provides legal assistance for pro-Palestinian activists who were arrested at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). According to reports, the activists had taken over the campus by force, engaged in violent behavior, used antisemitic language, and prevented access to public areas for Jewish students and others. After authorities intervened following an attack by pro-Israel supporters, several UCLA students were arrested during the police sweep of the encampment.
The UCLA student newspaper, Daily Bruin, reported that the County Board of Supervisors passed a motion to provide legal aid and defense services to the arrested students. Some students, including members of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, spoke in support of the resolution at the meeting. Despite claims of peaceful protest, activists used force to exclude individuals from the encampment on campus. The motion does not extend legal defense support to the pro-Israel supporters involved in the incident.
It is important to note that indigent criminal defendants are entitled to a public defender regardless of the circumstances.
