Police eject pro-Palestinian protesters from University of California, Irvine - Action News
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Police eject pro-Palestinian protesters from University of California, Irvine

Police on Wednesdaytook backa lecture hall from pro-Palestinian protesters who for hours occupiedthebuilding at the University of California,Irvine,then cleared a student encampment that stood for more than two weeks, witnesses said.

University officials asked for helpbecause protesters had occupied a lecture hall

Tense scenes as police disband pro-Palestinian protest at University of California, Irvine

5 months ago
Duration 0:49
Law enforcement officers converged on the University of California, Irvine, on Wednesday and cleared out pro-Palestinian protesters who had for hours occupied a lecture hall, after school officals asked for help. Police also ejected protesters from a plaza where a student encampment had stood for more than two weeks, witnesses said.

Police on Wednesdaytook backa lecture hall from pro-Palestinian protesters who for hours occupiedthebuilding at the University of California,Irvine,then cleared a student encampment that stood for more than two weeks, witnesses said.

Officers from about 10 nearby law-enforcement agencies converged on the campus after university officials requested helpbecause protesters had occupied the lecture hall, leading the school to declare it a "violent protest," policeanduniversity officials said.

About four hours later, police had ejected the protesters from both the lecture hallandthe plaza that had been the site of the encampment, according to the universityandReuters witnesses.

"The police have retaken the lecture hall," UCIrvinespokesperson Tom Vasich said by telephonefrom the scene. "The plaza has been cleared by law-enforcement officers."

Vasich said there were a "minimal number of arrests"andcharacterized the protesters as "begrudgingly co-operative."

The university said all classes would be held remotely on Thursday, asking employees not to come to campus.

Police in helmets and face shields arrest a woman in a crowd.
A pro-Palestinian protester is taken into custody at the University of California, Irvine on Wednesday. (Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag)

Latest U.S. campus protest

The demonstration at Irvine, about 65 kilometressouth of Los Angeles, is the latest in a series of campus protests across the United States over the war in Gaza in which activists have called for a ceasefire and the protection of civilian lives while demanding universities divest from Israeli interests.

UC Irvine protesters had established an encampment adjacent to the lecture hall on April 29 similar to those at other universities that have led to mass arrests and clashes with police elsewhere in the country.

On Wednesday 200 to 300 protesters took over the lecture hall at a time when no classes were in session, Vasich said.

A man stands in front of a row of police officers. His arms are aloft and he hold flowers in both hands and wears a flag around his neck like a cape.
A pro-Palestinian protester stands in front of a line of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies that were called into to quell a protest at the university campus. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Police responded in riot gear and formed a barricade while an officer on a loudspeaker warned the crowd that they had formed an unlawful assembly and risked arrest if they remained, the Orange County Register reported.

Video on social media showed students chanting slogans, banging drums and hoisting banners, with rows of police standing nearby. One banner hung from the building declared the site "Alex Odeh Hall," in honour of a Palestinian activist who was killed in a 1985 office bombing in the nearby city of Santa Ana.

Four nearby research buildings with potentially hundreds of people inside were locked down, and those inside were instructed to shelter in place, Vasich said, though the university later altered that instruction and instead advised them to leave.

Police officers appear in silhouette beside illuminated windows of a building.
Police lock down the quad campus area after protesters against the war in Gaza surrounded the physical sciences lecture hall. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Chancellor Howard Gillman has said the university has been in talks with students since the encampment was set up but has been unable to reach an agreement to find an "appropriate and non-disruptive" alternative site.

Gillman has said the university cannot selectively decide against enforcing rules against encampment and that "The University of California has made it clear it will not divest from Israel."

"Encampment protesters have focused most of their demands on actions that would require the university to violate the academic freedom rights of faculty, the free speech rights of faculty and fellow students, and the civil rights of many of our Jewish students," Gillman said on Monday.

Officers wearing face shields and carrying batons, confront protesters.
Police deployed to the campus move into the crowd. (Mike Blake/Reuters)