Whodunit? Maybe it was Igor! - Part 2

Faithful blog readers will recall our post of May 8th concerning the hype in the LA Times surrounding LAPD's high tech search for the identity of the guys with the bats who came on campus the night of April 30-May 1. But if you aren't a completely faithful reader, you can go to:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/05/whodunit-maybe-it-was-igor.html

for a refresher. In any case, the NY Times seems to have scooped both the LA Times and the LAPD. The NY Times not only has found two individuals, it has also named them and interviewed them!

Maybe the LAPD needs to purchase a subscription to the NY Times as part of its pursuit of the culprits. Just a thought...

...One of the counterprotesters, Liel Asherian, was seen on video footage kicking at the encampment’s plywood barrier, pulling boards to the ground and slamming a tennis racket against the wood that remained. He said he had gone that night to see the encampment on his own, though he later acknowledged that a friend of his was also pictured at the scene. In an interview, he said he was not part of any group and had not intended to participate in a conflict.

Mr. Asherian said he had approached the pro-Palestinian encampment to ask some people why they were protesting. He said he believed Jewish people such as himself and Palestinians were like cousins, and he expressed alarm at the innocent Palestinians being killed in Israel’s military campaign. But he said he disliked the disruptive tactics the pro-Palestinian protesters were using at U.C.L.A. 

He said things devolved when someone called him a “dirty Jew” and he was doused in pepper spray. “That made me start breaking down their barricades,” he said.

Also among the counterprotesters that night was Narek Palyan, an activist known for making frequent antisemitic statements, as well as comments critical of gay and transgender people. He said he went alone and was motivated to show up in part because he had seen a video of a Jewish woman on the pro-Palestinian side criticizing white people. “I wanted to go find her, specifically,” he said, adding that he was not able to.

Mr. Palyan said he did not necessarily support either side in the protest or the war. He said he spent much of the night asking people questions about their positions and trying to keep people from fighting by throwing makeshift weapons into nearby bushes. Mr. Palyan, who is Armenian American, also said he had warned two younger Armenian boys to stay out of the melee.

“I told them, ‘This isn’t ours,’” he said...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/12/us/ucla-counterprotesters-police-response.html.

The same NY Times story indicates that Gov. Newsom heard about the (televised) violence at UCLA with no local police intervention and eventually called in the CHP after - despite assurances from campus authorities - no local police were showing up.

If 80% of success is just showing up, 100% of failure is not showing up.

Although the LA Times did not locate anyone involved in the violence, it did publish an article noting that social media contained posts such as the one below (specifically referenced in the article) suggesting an out-of-control situation was prevailing at UCLA without intervention by campus authorities:

Or direct to https://ia600307.us.archive.org/9/items/newsom-4-3-24-snow-survey/Parent%20to%20UCPD%20posted%204-29-24.mp4. Posted on Instagram and other sites April 29th, e.g. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6XzVi5rVVk/.

The LA Times report is at:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-10/how-social-media-rumors-sparked-a-night-of-mayhem-at-ucla.