On Wednesday Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a building at the University of California, Irvine, leading university officials to call in various police agencies, cancel classes and advise people on campus to shelter in place, said a university spokesperson.
No arrests or injuries were reported as many law-enforcement agencies from Orange County including Irvine police replied to a university request for assistance.
The demonstration at Irvine, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Los Angeles, is the latest in a series of campus protests across the United States over the war in Gaza. Activists have called for a ceasefire and the protection of civilian lives while demanding universities divest from Israeli interests.
About 200 to 300 protesters surrounded a UC Irvine lecture hall at a time when no classes were in session, said university spokesperson Tom Vasich. Campus police replied and called for help from nearby agencies, with Irvine police and Orange County sheriff’s deputies among those arriving on campus, said Vasich.
Police in riot gear formed a barricade, and an officer on a loudspeaker warned the crowd that they had formed an unlawful assembly and risked arrest if they remained on site. Four adjacent research buildings with hundreds of people inside were locked down and the people inside were instructed to shelter in place, Vasich said. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, he said.
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