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ín washington and this is bbc world news america. >> confrontations on campus as violence erupts in the university of california as police crackdown on protesters at columbia university. israel reopens the largest aid routes to northern gaza since october 7 as hamas considers a cease-fire proposal. as arizona lawmakers strike down a 19th century abortion ban, a ban on abortion in florida comes to force. ♪ caitríona: hello and welcome to world news america, i am

caitríona. protests against the war in gaza continue across the u.s.. the university of california in los angeles, violence broke out as pros really demonstrators appear to attack a pro-palestinian encampment. the counter protesters used tear gas and a large objects against antiwar protesters as they try to tear down barricades around the encampment. >> beating us with bats and sticks and through whatever they could. >> i am annoyed for not seeing it coming but i did not think it would ever get to this level. caitríona: the counter protesters are believed to have come from outside of the campus and pro-palestinian student demonstrators said police are slow to respond and ucla canceled classes due to the violence in another disruption to student life and the school has already scaled back its graduation ceremony and some students are scheduled to have

exams and some want things to be normal again. >> things are not going well and people are like angry at each other. a lot of tensions going on. i hope that these can get resolved and maybe we can negotiate. who knows what will happen? i hope these get resolved real quick. caitríona: let us hear from our correspondent who has the latest from ucla. >> it has been a political minefield for universities over the last few weeks, trying to strike the right balance between upholding free speech and protecting students on campus, wanting to go about their day and dealing with the claims of anti-semitism from some jewish students as well. all of those tensions really boiled over here last night. what happened was around 11:00 last night here, near the pro-palestinian demonstration and the encampment here that was a surge of counter protesters that lead to violent clashes between these groups of rival

protesters. one of barricades that were picked up and used as weapons, fireworks thrown over the crowd. there had been a relatively small number of police on site at that moment. the university called in the los angeles police department, lapd, and they suddenly rush to break up this violence. by then it had escalated and it took police a number of hours to separate those protesters. there is the encampment behind me from the per demonstration which remains outside of the central main library of ucla but it is now, the rival demonstration by a pro-israel supporters is separated by some iron railings. everything feels calmer but it is a stream atmosphere for university campus -- strange atmosphere for the university campus. some have driven from far away and are frustrated to find that classes are canceled and ucla,

there is frustration because many students would not have been -- would have been taking midterm exams and they got there and they stayed up all night revising just to come in and find nothing happening. caitríona: let us speak now to a photojournalist for the l.a. times who is on the ucla campus. i want you to tell us about what you saw last night and we will show your footage and a warning to some of our viewers, this does depict violent scenes and there is some flash photography. what did you see when you arrived on campus? >> i arrived on campus, i saw maybe 200 people protesting, attacking the encampment. the sense was that they were given permission and there was a sense in the air that since the chancellor had declared the encampment unlawful they had permission to take it down and they were not leaving until it

came down. student protesters were adamant they were not going anywhere. i saw some pretty violent stuff last night. i think that these counter protesters behaved with total impunity, just attacking the students and community members who showed up to protect the encampment. everything from throwing chicken wire to bashing the protesters with planks of wood. there were two skull fractures that i heard reported from medics. many, many of the students were injured during the incident. and, yes, i think the crowd exhibited public behavior. >> there have been complaints from the pro-palestinian demonstrators and the students who have been there for quite a while now that the police were slow to come and help them. that they were left alone for some time.

did you observe anything around that? >> yes, the violence had begun, it was until 1:30 that police arrived and it was not until 3:00 in the morning of the police did anything about the counter protesters. i will say that the students, they feel and they do feel it was a choice for the lapd or for the university to take so long to respond. they feel that in a way, that the community in which these counter protesters were acting mirrored from statements from impunity in which the world and gaza has been -- the war and god's been taking place. caitríona: very intense if you have described, did you feel scared or fearful? you find yourself in a lot of situations, how did this rank? >> terrified, worried for the

students, kids, kids as young as 18, they were part of this line and middle-aged men harassing them. trying to start fights with them, i really think it was the crowd was enabled in this moment, i do not believe these individuals, i do not want to think that these individuals behave this way in their everyday lives but i feel so shocked that the university was able to just allow this to happen in some ways. it is very tragic to allow this to happen. caitríona: photojournalist with the l.a. times, thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. >> thank you. caitríona: in new york but both officers arrested 300 people on tuesday night, two separate schools, columbia university and another college, protesters at columbia had barricaded themselves inside of a university building prompting the administration to call and police to clear the campus there. as a police raid on the whole echoed the same building in 1968

when almost 700 students were arrested after protesting columbia's support for u.s. involvement in the vietnam war. the columbia president released a statement acknowledging the school's history saying columbia has a long and proud tradition of protest and activism on many important issues such as the vietnam war, civil rights, and the anti-apartheid struggle in south africa, today's protesters are fighting for an important cause for the rights of palestinians and against the humanitarian tragedy in gaza. the statement continues but students and other activists breaking hamilton hall doors and mistreating our public safety officers and maintenance staff and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech she said. when asked on tuesday morning at a news conference in new york police did not say how many of those who were arrested were students, new york city mayor said that there was evidence

that students had been influenced and trained by poeople not from the university and he expressed concerns about the radicalization of students. >> those who broke into the building did include students and it was led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university. they needed the school to clear the hall and the encampments outside globally. there is a movement to radicalize young people. i am not going to wait until it is done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it. this is a global problem and young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children. i'm not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the city of new york. >> after the crackdown on columbia university, protesters gathered outside of new york police headquarters and volunteers provided food and medical and legal services to

those being released after their arrest. one of those protesters described the police operation as like a siege. >> we were peacefully holding down our campus and we were told that we would have until the morning to disperse, but in the middle of the night we were siege by nypd -- sieged by nypd and i was thought up to six hours before being released by police, i got beat up, stomped on. >> we go to our correspondent who is at columbia university for us, we have seen what is happening over the last 24 hours or so, what is next for the university and the protesters there? >> the protests will not

continue as they were in their previous format, inside of the university the encampments have gone and police have taken them down and they are not likely to spring up again anytime soon. the president of the university has told the police to stay until may 17th. what happens outside of the university is a different matter, i do not think the protesters or the pro-palestinian movement is going to give up advocating for their cause anytime soon and in fact, those protesters from both encampments both of them were shut down by police last night and are due to hold a press conference later today and i think we might get a sense of exactly where this protest movement is heading. there in mind more than 100 students have been suspended from columbia university and from city college, we understand and international students, one person i spoke to said they didn't know why they had been suspended and they were not given an reason -- a given

reason for it, they had nothing to do with the building taken over by some protesters who had barricaded themselves in which became the red line for the university administrators. this particular student said that they are worried if this suspension is a hearing, when the hearing will be, they could be kicked out of the u.s. permanently, a lot of students are finding themselves in limbo. as far as the university is concerned they want to keep the protests at bay and they keep saying that we are not against the actual cause, but the way that it is being conducted. for them, there is a crucial day coming up, may 15, that is graduation day and the university always wanted to preserve the and make sure that seniors who have worked hard will be able to graduate on the same lawn where the graduation ceremony is due to take place. the university is hoping that the may the 15th they will go

ahead -- day will go ahead. caitríona: antiwar protests have been taking place across 40 campuses in the u.s., take a look at a map, where protests have taken place since april 17th, some with arrests and some without and you see many are concentrated in the northeast of the country and they have also appeared in the south and midwest as well as several universities in california. we can go to look at one of those now and we speak to a professor at uc berkeley and the culture of the berkeley faculty association and one of 890 equity members who signed a letter calling for student rights to be protected. thank you for joining us. there has been a rally at uc berkeley you were speaking at, can you tell the situation and how it is different on your campus and their counterparts at

ucla? >> i came from a really wonderful made a rally --may day rally on the very steps of sproul hall which was made famous by the free speech movement in the 1960's. there are no exams or classes going on in berkeley at the moment and the encampment has become a pretty amazing space of creativity and education. it was a wonderful turnout there today. caitríona: why do you think the situation is so different at berkeley to what we have seen on other campuses around the country? >> i think in part, we have to think university leadership for not being silly enough to declare the encampment unlawful or to shut it down. i do think that our university leadership like university city leaderships around the country

-- university leaderships around the country, the mccarthyism that is sweeping america at the moment and trying to insist that the mayor of new york bike -- like the mayor of new york jested that universities are a hotbed for places not for protests and debate and that is how we keep our democracy alive and universities do not teach students what to think, we teach students how to think for themselves so that they can imagine a better world and i am pleased to say that the university of california berkeley, our students are able and allowed to do that. >> there have been reports not speaking up berkeley specifically, of some students feeling unsafe when they have to pass by encampments and there have been some reports of anti-somatic chance and so on, where has that line between students right to protest and others rights to feel safe been

laid? >> part of the new mccarthyism is trying to equate criticism of israeli government with antisemitism. there are some groups on university campuses that are being very effective in echoing that accusation. in my experience, that simply is not true. actually the only thing that threatens the safety on campuses is what we have seen around the country of these incredibly violent crackdowns on peaceful student protests. caitríona: where do you see an end coming if you see an end coming to the encampments and to the protests? >> i think we all hope for a cease-fire and not just a cease-fire, but an end to this dreadful war.

i was a student in britain in the 1980's when we organized to divest from apartheid south africa, that movement was strong in the united states too and the people who controlled universities then told us that it could never happen but we made it happen and within a decade or so apartheid was over. i do not see an immediate end to these protests, for some indications coming up, university campuses and for sure, they will change shape over the summer but what i see is a set of deeply committed students that determined to make sure that universities divest from companies that are profiting from the war in palestine. caitríona: briefly, you see that happening? >> i am a historian, i do not see the future i am afraid. caitríona: good answer, thank

you for your interesting points, professor of history at uc berkeley. on the ground and guys of the humanitarian crisis deepens as the u.n. has warned that more than 70% of the population faces catastrophic levels of hunger. israel has reopened the crossing into gaza for the first time since hamas' attacks. israel opening of the main route into northern gaza follow sustained international pressure by governments and by aid agencies to allow more aid in. antony blinken met israel's prime minister in jerusalem to urge him to ensure that more humanitarian aid reaches gaza. he warned israel against imminent ground invasion of rafa h are displaced palestinians are s sheltering.

in america, the battle for abortion rights is going on in two states, the overturn of roe v. wade created a patchwork of laws on reproductive rights across various states, and arizona, lawmakers repealed back to near total abortion ban dating back to the 1800s and the top court revived the strict ban on abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy, point at which many women do not know they are pregnant and that led to a bipartisan effort to overturn it. arizona reverts to its previous 15 week b in floridaa,n. a ban in florida closes the last abortion access point in the southeast and the six week ban could be short-lived as as floridians vote on the referendum this november and that could enshrine abortion in the state's constitution.

kamala harris visited the state to speak about for reproductive rights, a key issue as joe biden is seeking reelection, she addressed the new law that would force women seeking an abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy to leave the state for the procedure. the researchers could lead to the closure of clinics that provide abortions -- restrictions could lead to the closure of clinics who provide abortions i speak to a world medical center advocate and south florida. you have operated your clinic for more than 30 years, based on your experience, what is this change reducing the instruction on abortion to six weeks? what does that mean for women's ability to access terminations? >> it is going to restrict them severely. a lot of patients do not even know that it is happening. we have gotten so many calls that are meeting services and they are seven weeks, eight

weeks, they cannot get it done, the next thing they can get done is in north carolina, they have a 72 hour waiting period before you can get it done. caitríona: with a large number of your clients over the years have been coming to you with pregnancies that were more than six weeks? >> yes, of course. they are just finding out they are pregnant at six weeks. especially the younger girls. teenagers, they come with her mother and say i just had a. period last month and they are three or four months pregnant. they do not understand yet. that is really going to be devastating for the teenagers. between 18 and 36, they are our clients and the young girls, 18, 23, 20 two, they are still figuring out how their. period works and when they find

out they are pregnant they are usually six or seven weeks already. the girls who need to come to the clinic now need to find out they are pregnant before six weeks. caitríona: you mentioned that fluorine women will now have to go to north carolina -- floridian women have to go to north carolina if they are beyond six weeks of determination, one of the period has been longer up to 24 weeks, you see women coming from other states into florida? >> yes we do. i do not want to say which ones because they are making it criminal for patients to leave those states and come to another state to get abortion services. i do not to mention which states. yes. we have seen them from several different states to come to our state. not that many because we are on the lower end of florida, east coast, southeast, there are other clinics in tallahassee and

in jacksonville that are closer. caitríona: what has it been like to operate your clinic over the last three decades? do you often have protesters outside of your property? >> every surgery day which is tuesday -- mondays and saturdays, the protesters are there. we come to work at 5:00 a.m. on saturday mornings and there are five men, men, who were on sidewalks telling women what to do. trying to tell women what to do. yes, protesters. caitríona: do you think the regulations will change in the state again? voters have the opportunity in november to change the state constitution to guarantee access to abortion up to 24 weeks. how likely do you think it is it will pass? >> i believe it is going to pass. i am 99.9 it will pass.

every woman needs to vote for amendment four, on the ballot in november. if kansas can do it, colorado can do it, ohio can do it, florida can do it. caitríona: we leave it there for the moment, operator of a woman's world medical center in florida, thank you for joining us on bbc news. >> thank you for having me. caitríona: that is it for today but remember you can find more about the news on our website, bbc.com, we are running a live page about the student protests and you can keep up-to-date about all parts of the country and you can always check us out on your favorite social media platforms as well. that is it for now, from all of the team, thank you for watching world news america. take care. ♪

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