UCLA clashes: Police criticised for 'delayed' response to violence
A masked pro-Israeli group assaulted a pro-Palestinian student camp, before officers were called to the campus.
Governor Gavin Newsom's spokesperson said the "limited and delayed" police intervention was "unacceptable".
State officials and university leaders have said they immediately deployed security personnel to the tent camp on Dickson Plaza
Protesters started leaving the site roughly two hours after the attack began and police had established control as day broke on Wednesday morning.
Governor Newsom himself condemned the violence in a post on X, formerly Twitter, separate to his office's statement.
"The law is clear," he said. "The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism or lawlessness."
He said those responsible "must be held accountable... including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion".
According to the newspaper, reinforcements were called from California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles and it took three hours to bring the situation under control.
Protests at Columbia against the war in Gaza have inspired similar actions at universities - small and large, public and private -
On Wednesday, state troopers arrested 17 anti-war protesters at the University of Texas at Dallas, said the BBC's Tom Bateman on campus