Los Angeles police officers arrived at USC in riot gear on Wednesday evening, and arrested 93 people on trespassing charges while removing an encampment in the center of the campus built in protest of the Israel-Hamas war.
“You should be ashamed! You should be ashamed!” The protesters raised slogans as police escorted students and activists out of the campus.
The encampment at Alumni Park – where the university’s main stage is scheduled to begin next month – grew before sunrise and swelled by afternoon as students, some wearing kaffirs and carrying signs saying “Free Palestine” and “Free Zones” , play the drums. And chanted.
The protest remained largely peaceful but became tense at times as officers tried to detain and escort people from the premises and some threw water bottles into the crowd. The operation lasted for hours, and at 9 pm officers escorted the protesters and spectators from the premises and arrested those who stayed or protested.
Dozens of LAPD officers were at the precinct by 4 p.m., forming a line around the park. The USC administration said it has closed the gates to the campus and is introducing an ID check to ensure that only individuals associated with the university are allowed inside. Professors were given the option to hold online classes on Thursday – which many took.
At 5 p.m., USC Department of Public Safety officers gave protesters a 10-minute warning to disperse or face arrest. Protestors then gathered around the officers and drowned out their warnings with chants.
LAPD officers, who had been gathering on nearby streets, proceeded to march in organized lines toward the entrances to the complex with less-lethal weapons.
Students received another 10-minute warning, after which an LAPD helicopter loudspeaker sent a message saying: “Your time is up. Leave the area or you will be arrested for trespassing.”
The protesters stood their ground, some walking out of Alumni Park while others remained sitting on the grass, arms linked together, forming a circle. Thirty minutes later, LAPD officers entered the complex and surrounded Park.
“We just want peace!” The protesters raised slogans.
Some people ran away as officers tried to move them toward the northern entrance of the complex.
Public safety officers clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters at USC on April 24.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Officers lined up around the classroom building next to the Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow Center for International and Public Affairs, Alumni Park. As police moved in to detain a woman, protesters threw water on them and chanted, “Let him go!”
One of the officers briefly raised a less lethal weapon, prompting shouts of “Whoa!” Wow! Wow!” From the crowd.
LAPD could not confirm whether rubber bullets were deployed A video posted by Annenberg Media It showed an officer firing a rubber bullet into a crowd outside the compound.
By 6:30 p.m., officers began arresting students and protesters who had gathered in a circle in Alumni Park, detaining them one by one with zip ties.
The arrested protesters were taken to an area near the Hahn Plaza fountain, where officers took their information. The protesters were then herded inside a white LAPD van and driven away.
Nearby protesters told the arrested students: “We love you! You are a hero!”
Some of those arrested remained silent because they were given protection by the authorities. Others continued chanting, “Free, free Palestine!”
On April 24, LAPD officers made arrests following a protest against the Israeli–Palestinian war at USC.
(Wally Scalise/Los Angeles Times)
An officer at the scene said protesters were being taken to the 77th Street Community Police Station. It is not clear whether some of those arrested were taken to other stations.
By 9:30, the crowd had mostly dispersed, and only a few people remained as officers stood guard, separated from those who remained on the road adjacent to the compound due to a closed gate.
USC’s encampment was part of a growing number of student-led demonstrations taking place on college campuses since last week, when more than 100 arrests at a camp-in at Columbia University prompted solidarity protests at universities from Massachusetts to California.
The camp is in its third day at UC Berkeley, while Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus in Arcata is closed until Wednesday after students occupied an administration building Monday night. Police have also arrested activists from Yale University, New York University and the University of Minnesota.
Tensions have risen at the colleges since the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, which killed about 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages. Gaza health officials say more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counter-war. Health officials do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but say at least two-thirds of the dead were children and women. According to the United Nations, 2 million Gazans are living in famine conditions.
On Wednesday, as at least two LAPD helicopters circled overhead throughout the afternoon, tents at USC went up and down repeatedly as campus Department of Public Safety officials asked students to remove them and, at one point, But, the lawn chairs were dragged away. Students picked up their tents and walked in circles with them to avoid violating the university’s “no camping” policy.
USC public safety officers trying to confiscate tents from pro-Palestinian protesters.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
“Reveal! Disinvestment! We will not stop, we will not rest!” said the crowd, which called itself the “Death Coalition to Divest USC” in a statement.
“Carol, Carol, you can’t hide! You are supporting genocide!” Another chant was sung in reference to USC President Carroll Folt.
Protesters included members of pro-Palestine groups such as Trojans for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
Jewish groups condemned the protests, and Muslim groups condemned the evening arrests.
A statement from USC’s Hillel said, “Although students have the right to protest, they do not have the right to intimidate or threaten Jewish students.” “Today’s events on campus included a protest action which again saw anti-Semitic slogans raised including ‘There is only one solution, the Intifada Revolution’ and ‘Long live the Intifada.’ These actions reflect a troubling and rapidly growing situation nationally and on our own campus at USC.
In another statement, the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke out against police arrests of rally-goers.
“It is deeply troubling that USC’s response to students demonstrating peacefully in solidarity with Palestine is a forceful suppression of free speech and assembly,” said Amr Shabaik, legal director of CAIR-LA. “This reflects a nationwide trend of colleges and universities attempting to censor pro-Palestinian advocacy on campuses.”
The arrests on Wednesday evening followed several clashes with campus security officers earlier in the day, as LAPD officers began lining up outside the campus.
Around noon, several officers from the precinct surrounded and detained a protester during a confrontation. As students shouted for officers to leave the man, officers took out their batons but did not hit anyone. It is not clear what led to the clash.
There was a clash between officials and protesters on the campus on Wednesday.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Officers detained the man in a white vehicle as protesters pursued him and demanded the man’s release. Protesters gathered on either side of the vehicle and began shouting, “Let him go!” and “Shame on you!”
After about 30 minutes, officers released the protestor as the crowd moved back to Alumni Park, where they stood with white signs reading “Let Gaza survive.”
Off-campus groups circulated videos of the protests and called on the public to come to USC. “Los Angeles get here now!! We need bodies!!!” said a social media post by the People’s City Council.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the university sent out a text message alert saying it had closed the campus gates.
“Anyone coming to campus for class or business must be prepared to show an ID at the gate. Unless you have a class, please stay away from the center of campus.”
By 2 p.m., Provost Andrew Guzman sent a campus-wide email saying protesters “threaten the safety of our officers and the campus community.”
Guzmán said protesters “were repeatedly asked by security personnel to remove their tents and other prohibited items and relocate them to an appropriate location.” In each case, the protesters refused. “Their actions have escalated to the point of confrontation and threaten the safety of our officers and the campus community.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters joined the sit-in at the complex.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
The protests at USC follow more than a week of tension on campus, which began when Folt canceled a May 10 keynote commencement event that was expected to be attended by 65,000 people. Was expected.
The decision came after pro-Israel groups on and off campus criticized Tabassum for posting pro-Palestinian links on her Instagram bio, which they described as anti-Semitic. USC said the cancellation was not linked to Tabassum’s political views and was instead in response to unspecified threats to campus security targeted at her speech. The university has also canceled film director Jon M. Chu’s mainstage commencement address and appearances by honorary degree recipients, including tennis great Billie Jean King.
Palestinian American protester Ahmed said, “Everyone from our honoree Asna Tabassum to any student who speaks out against the genocide should receive the full support of the university, in contrast to what we are seeing, which was incredible repression.” Palestinian youth movement that will not give its last name. “To this day the university has not said a word about our families, about the genocide we are experiencing in Gaza.”
Several professors also joined the protest Wednesday, holding signs that read, “USC Faculty Against Genocide in Palestine.” One of them was Amelia Jones, a professor at the Rosky School of Art and Design.
“It’s about what’s happening in Gaza, but it’s also about what’s happening here,” Jones said. “They excluded a student from graduation without saying or doing anything. Yet a university is supposed to be a place of freedom of expression. We haven’t heard a word from our President about anything. We feel unheard and disconnected.”
Josh Raghavachari, a second-year USC student, said he heeded the administration’s call to avoid the demonstration but supported its purpose.
“Students should be able to express themselves as long as they do so peacefully,” the psychology major said. “USC likes to say it supports free speech. But then it hits him.”
In a statement, the university administration said it believed the protesters – most of whom appeared to be undergraduate aged – were not from USC.
“The university has a policy that prohibits camping on campus, which is in the student handbook. Today at 4:30 am, about 10-15 people came to the campus with tents. “(Department of Public Safety) officers advised them of the policy and people removed the tents,” the statement said.
The statement continued, “People remain in Alumni Park – it appears that most of them are unaffiliated with the university.” “Our students, faculty and staff are allowed to express their views and have been able to do so throughout the school year.”
Times intern Jenna Peterson contributed to this report.
