In Los Angeles, a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza was held at the University of Southern California, where people stood next to flower arrangements that read “Free Palestine” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
David Swanson | Reuters
Protesters left a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after being surrounded by police and told they would face arrest if they did not go.
The move comes just days before commencement ceremonies begin on the Los Angeles campus, and the university said campus security officials, with assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department, were clearing the area.
Around 4:15 a.m., USC said on social media platform X: “If you are in the center of campus, please leave. Those who do not leave may be arrested.”
Live video from student reporters showed the camp emptying out and police lining up to disperse remaining protesters and prevent people from re-entering the area.
The encampment reopened after the Los Angeles Police Department made its first arrest of 93 people on April 24.
At the University of Virginia on Saturday, police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to move tents off campus, leading to 25 arrests for trespassing, and University of Michigan demonstrators chanted anti-war slogans at a graduation ceremony and wave the flag.
USC, a private university, has been the subject of student protests over the war in Gaza and the administration’s decision to cancel a commencement address by a Muslim student who expressed support for the Palestinians. The university made the decision in mid-April, saying they had security concerns after receiving threats. Some Jewish groups criticized the student’s selection as speaker.
Administrators later canceled the entire Main Stage commencement ceremony scheduled for May 10, when 65,000 people were expected to gather to celebrate the graduates. Other commencement events, including those at individual schools and colleges, are still scheduled for Thursday through Sunday. Access to private campuses for non-university personnel has been largely restricted since late April.
Video posted online on Saturday night showed some demonstrators singing calm songs and chants in preparation for expected police activity. The camp was set up on campus green space and consisted of dozens of tents surrounded by makeshift fences filled with signs with messages supporting the Palestinians and critical of the university and law enforcement.
On Saturday, a university representative read a statement near the encampment saying the encampment must be dismantled, citing the encampment and unspecified vandalism and theft of university property as violations, according to Annenberg Media, a student-run campus publication. law.
Earlier on Friday, dozens of counter-protesters camped outside the camp, showing scenes of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel on screens, according to Annenberg Media.
Arrested Saturday in Virginia
In Virginia, student demonstrators began protesting on Tuesday on the lawn outside their school chapel. WVAW-TV video showed police wearing heavy equipment and carrying shields lining up on the Charlottesville campus on Saturday. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and university police said on social platform X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared in the area.
Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post that the students were pushed to the ground and pulled by their arms when police intervened. and spray them with chemical irritants.
University administration said in a statement that the demonstrators were informed that the tents and canopies they had set up were prohibited by school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to assist law enforcement, the university said.
Arrests cap a week of protests
It was the latest in weeks of tense and sometimes violent clashes at colleges and universities across the country, with dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests over ongoing demonstrations over Israel’s war with Hamas; many camps have been dismantled by police.
Tent camps of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the Gaza war have spread to campuses across the country in a student movement unprecedented this century. Some schools have struck deals with protesters to end demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and graduation ceremonies.
The Associated Press has documented at least 61 arrests in connection with protests since April 18, with more than 2,400 people arrested on 47 campuses. The numbers are based on an Associated Press report and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
Schools brace for back-to-school protests
The University of Michigan is among the schools preparing to hold protests during commencement ceremonies this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. There will be more events in the coming weeks.
In Ann Arbor, protests occurred at the start of the game at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people walked along the main aisle toward the graduation stage, many wearing traditional Arab headscarves and graduation caps.
“Regent, regent, you can’t hide! You are financing genocide!” they chanted. They held signs, one of which read: “There are no more universities in Gaza.”
Overhead, planes fluttered banners with competing messages. “Withdraw from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”
Officials said no arrests were made and the protests did not seriously disrupt the nearly two-hour event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, some waving Israeli flags.
State police prevented demonstrators from getting on stage. University spokesperson Colleen Mastoni said public safety personnel escorted protesters to the back of the stadium, where they remained until the event was over.
“Similar peaceful protests have occurred at UM commencement ceremonies for decades,” she added.
The university allowed protesters to set up camp on campus, but police helped break up a large gathering at a graduation-related event Friday night and arrested one person.
Protests at Indiana and Princeton University
In Indiana, protesters urged supporters to wear hoods and leave as President Pamela Whitten spoke Saturday night. The Bloomington campus designated a protest area outside Memorial Stadium, where the ceremony will be held.
At Princeton University in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an attempt to push the university to divest itself of companies linked to Israel.
David Chmielewski, one of the seniors, said in an email that the walkout began Friday morning with participants drinking only water and will continue until administrators meet with students. Demands include amnesty for protesters from criminal and disciplinary charges. Chmielewski said other demonstrators were taking part in a “solidarity fast” that lasted 24 hours.
Students at Princeton University set up a protest camp this week, with some students holding a sit-in at the Administration Building, resulting in about 15 arrests.
Earlier this year, students at other universities, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes ahead of the latest wave of encampments.
The protests stem from a conflict that began on October 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and launched an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-dominated region. Israeli attacks destroyed the enclave and displaced most of its residents.
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