Students and other protesters called on universities to abandon financial ties to Israel.
Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza continue on college campuses across the United States as graduation season begins. Los Angeles police made no arrests as they cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California (USC).
After USC requested help, police entered the camp around 5 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) Sunday and worked with campus police to remove tents while students were peacefully leaving the area, police said.
The move comes a day after at least 25 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested as police cleared an encampment at the University of Virginia (UVA).
Tensions flared on UVA’s Charlottesville campus, where protests had been largely peaceful until Saturday morning, when police in riot gear were seen in video moving onto an encampment on the lawn of the campus and handcuffing some protesters with zip ties.
Campus protests have become a political flashpoint in a U.S. election year, as Democratic President Joe Biden seeks a second term. Police arrested more than 2,000 people during protests on dozens of campuses across the country.
Students and other protesters called on universities to renounce their financial ties to Israel and push for a ceasefire.
Under growing political pressure, Biden broke his silence on campus unrest on Thursday, saying Americans have the right to protest but not to start violence.
Many universities, including Columbia University in New York, called in police to quell the protests.
On Sunday, at the University of Texas at Austin, drones deployed by police flew over around 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators, accompanied by around 50 spectators, local media reported. Speakers advised other protesters to remain peaceful and not engage the police.
Adam, an organizer with the Palestine Solidarity Committee protesting at the University of Texas at Austin, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Palestinian students recognize that American students support Palestine.
“We will no longer deal with the blood of Palestinians,” he said.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Phil Lavelle, reporting from the University of California, Irvine, said the situation there was relatively calm and talks between protesters and the university administration were ongoing.
“We understand that there is a protest in San Francisco. Here at UC Irvine, things are very quiet,” he said.
Separately, there were at least four bomb threats against synagogues in the New York area over the weekend, police said, but none were credible.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Saturday evening: “We will not tolerate individuals spreading fear and anti-Semitism. Those responsible must be held accountable for their despicable actions.
At least 34,683 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and 78,018 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October, according to Palestinian authorities.
Israel launched the assault on Gaza after Hamas carried out an attack in southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 people, most of them civilians, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on Israeli statistics.