Over 60 protesters arrested at UC San Diego as police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment

LOS ANGELES, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 64 protesters were arrested early Monday morning when police moved in to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), in the U.S. state of California.

Forty of the arrested were students and 24 were unaffiliated. The arrested students will all be placed under interim suspension, according to the highly rated public university.

Protesters set up the "Gaza Solidarity" encampment on the university's campus on Wednesday, joining the wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations sweeping the nation over the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

UC San Diego's chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said in a statement on Sunday that "unauthorized encampments are strictly prohibited."

"We began communicating with participants within minutes of the camp's establishment. Nevertheless, the encampment has tripled in size in violation of the group's commitment not to expand the footprint," said Khosla in the statement, adding that "This encampment poses an unacceptable safety and security hazard on campus."

Police officers in riot gear started dismantling the pro-Palestinian encampment and making arrests around 6 a.m. Monday local time after declaring the protest camp an unlawful assembly.

The university said in a campus message to faculty, staff and students that "All West Campus facilities are closed" and "All events scheduled for today on West Campus should be canceled, rescheduled or moved to remote operation."

The UC San Diego pro-Palestinian camp clearance came days after the mass arrest of over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday morning as police dismantled an encampment at UC Los Angeles.

UC Riverside, another university in the University of California system, made up of 10 campuses, announced last week that school officials reached a peaceful agreement with protesters at the university to end the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus on Friday.

Aside from UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego and UC Riverside, students at some other California colleges and universities, including Stanford University, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, Sacramento State, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, joined the national protest.