Pro-Palestinian protest: University Irvine demonstration leads to police action, several arrested
University protest
Police took back control of a lecture hall from pro-Palestinian protesters who occupied a building at the University of California, Irvineon Wednesday (May 15).
According to a university spokesperson, Police officers from about 10 nearby law-enforcement agencies converged on the campus after university officials requested help.
Sergeant Karie Davies, spokesperson for the Irvine Police Department informed, “The operation resulted in some people being handcuffed.”
However the police declined to disclose the arrest count until it was complete.
"The police have retaken the lecture hall," UC Irvine spokesperson Tom Vasich said by telephone. "I do not have confirmation of it, but I do see police officers up in the second-floor balcony and around the front of the building."
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The banners that were hung from the balconies were taken down, Vasich added.
University labeled theprotest as "violent" before regaining control of the building in under four hours.
Thedemonstration is part of a nationwide wave of campus protests against the Gaza conflict. Activists are urging a ceasefire, civilian protection, and university divestment from Israeli interests.
On Wednesday 200 to 300 protesters took over the lecture hall when no classes were in session, Vasich said.
A police officer on a loudspeaker warned the crowd that they had formed an unauthorised assembly and risked arrest if they remained, the Orange County Register reported.
One banner hangingfrom the building declared the site, ‘Alex Odeh Hall,’ honouring a Palestinian activist who was killed in a 1985 office bombing in the nearby city of Santa Ana.
University Chancellor Howard Gillman informed that the university is in talks with protesting students since the encampment was set up but is unable to reach an agreement to find an non-disruptive alternative site.
Gillman has said the university cannot selectively decide against enforcing rules and that "The University of California has made it clear it will not divest from Israel."
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"Encampment protesters are calling for measures that could likely restrict faculty's academic freedom, free speech rights for students and faculty, and the civil liberties of Jewish students," Gillman said on Monday.
(With inputs from agencies)