A pro-Israeli counterprotester was arrested Thursday morning by UCLA police, weeks after he allegedly assaulted occupants of a campus protest encampment with a wooden pole.
According to the UCLA Police Department, detectives interviewed witnesses and victims and reviewed security camera footage from the pro-Palestinian demonstration to identify the suspect, who was not affiliated with the campus and allegedly among a group who violently attacked students, faculty and staff on April 30.
The 18-year-old man was detained at a business in Beverly Hills and booked for felony assault with a deadly weapon, police said. He is currently being held in Los Angeles County jail on $30,000 bail. This appears to be the first arrest of a counterprotester.
A law enforcement source confirmed to The Times that the man is Edan On, who was identified by CNN last week as a counterprotester wearing a white hoodie and a mask in widely shared images and videos that showed him repeatedly hitting a pro-Palestinian protester with the pole. On is also listed on the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrest log.
“The UCLA Police Department is committed to investigating all reported acts of violence and is actively working to identify the other perpetrators of violence associated with any protest or counter-protest activities between April 25, 2024, and May 2, 2024,” the Police Department said in a statement. “The investigations are ongoing.”
A group of student reporters were among those attacked by counterprotesters on April 30. The violence prompted an independent review of the university’s actions and law enforcement’s response to the campus unrest. Universities across the country have been disrupted by protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
In early May, more than 200 people were arrested at UCLA as police and protesters clashed for hours.
Campus Police Chief John Thomas was removed from his post and reassigned, officials said earlier this week, after he was criticized for security failures that led to violence at a pro-Palestinian encampment. And UCLA Chancellor Gene Block was interrogated by members of Congress Thursday over his handling of complaints regarding campus antisemitism.
