Los Angeles Police Make No Arrests Clearing USC Pro-Hamas Encampment

Los Angeles police made no arrests on Sunday while clearing a pro–Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California, following arrests and turmoil at universities across the country over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Other universities with graduation ceremonies on Sunday were bracing for more protests after dozens were arrested the previous day.

After USC requested assistance, police entered the encampment about 5 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) and worked with campus police to remove tents as students peacefully left the area, police said.

Campus protests have emerged as a new political flashpoint during a hotly contested and deeply divisive US election year. Police have arrested over 2,000 protesters at dozens of colleges around the country.

Mitch Landrieu, the national co-chair for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, said on Sunday that Sen. Bernie Sanders’s comment comparing the college protests to those during the Vietnam war was an “over exaggeration.”

“This is a very different circumstance,” Landrieu said on CNN. “However, that is not to say that this is not a very serious matter.”

Many of the schools, including Columbia University in New York City, have called in police to quell the protests.

Students and other protesters have called for universities to divest their financial ties to Israel and push for a ceasefire. In April, Los Angeles police arrested 93 people at USC after they cleared an earlier encampment.

Separately, there have been at least four bomb threats at New York area synagogues over the weekend, police said, but none have proven credible.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on X late Saturday: “We will not tolerate individuals sowing fear & antisemitism. Those responsible must be held accountable for their despicable actions.”

The war began after Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 252 others as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and incapacitating Hamas to the point that it can no longer pose a major threat to the Israeli people from neighboring Gaza.