Police in riot gear surrounded arm-in-arm protesters Friday at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to remove a camp and barricades where pro-Palestinian demonstrations blocked the main entrance to the campus this week. Dozens of people were arrested, the university said.
University, local and state police swarmed protesters, and videos from local news stations showed officers telling people to leave and then removing signs and part of a barricade. There appeared to be some pushing and shoving between police and protesters. The officers wore zip ties and appeared to detain some people.
“For weeks, camp participants received clear and repeated instructions to remove the camp and stop blocking access to numerous campus resources and the campus itself,” university spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said in a statement on Friday.
“They were notified that their actions were illegal and unsafe. And this morning they also received multiple warnings from law enforcement to leave the area and disperse to avoid arrest. Unfortunately, many refused to follow this directive and many people are being arrested.” Hernandez-Jason said.
About 80 protesters were arrested, university spokeswoman Abby Butler said. Chancellor Cynthia Larive said in a letter to the community Friday that some protesters remained at the entrance.
It said the roadblocks, “with fortified and chained barricades made of pallets and other materials, and other illegal actions, disrupted campus operations and threatened safety, including delaying access for emergency vehicles.”
It was not known if anyone was injured. The university was holding classes remotely on Friday.
Graduate student workers at UC Santa Cruz continued a strike that began last week over the university system’s treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters. The strike will expand to three more campuses next week, the union said Friday.
The strikes began on May 20 at UC Santa Cruz and later spread to UCLA and UC Davis. Members at UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego will retire on June 3 and at UC Irvine on June 5, UAW Local 4811 said. Union members include graduate teaching assistants, researchers and other academic employees. The UC president’s office said the union was violating the no-strike clause in its contract and disrupting critical end-of-year student activities.
Protest camps sprang up across the United States and Europe this spring as students demanded that their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support their war in Gaza. Organizers seek to amplify calls to end Israel’s war with Hamas, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians.
The KeynoteUSA has recorded at least 84 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at university protests across the United States. At least 3,117 people have been arrested on the campuses of 63 colleges and universities. The figures are based on KeynoteUSA reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
The clash in California came a day after arrests at a pro-Palestinian encampment on a Detroit campus and a student walkout during graduation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
On Thursday, police in riot gear removed fences and tore down tents erected last week in a green space near the university library at Wayne State University in Detroit. At least 12 people were arrested.
President Kimberly Andrews Espy cited health and safety concerns and disruptions to campus operations. Staff were encouraged to work remotely this week and in-person summer classes were suspended.
The camp, he said, “created an environment of exclusion, one in which some members of our university community felt unwelcome and unable to fully participate in university life.”
An outdoor graduation ceremony was held Friday at MIT in Cambridge, near Boston. On Thursday, some graduates walked out of another ceremony, interrupting it for 10 to 15 minutes. They wore keffiyehs, the checkered scarves that represent Palestinian solidarity, over their caps and gowns, chanted “Free Palestine, Free” and held signs that read: “All eyes on Rafah.”
“There will be nothing normal as long as MIT maintains research projects with the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” said David Berkinsky, 27, who earned a doctorate in chemistry and retired. “There are no graduates in Gaza. There are no universities left in Gaza because Israel has bombed every single one of them.”
Some people at the event insulted protesters and shouted, “Goodbye to the Hamas terror fanatics.” In early May, a pro-Palestinian camp at MIT was cleared.
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