(TargetDailyNews.com) – Los Angeles police had a considerably easier time clearing out law-breaking protestors than cops in other cities when the LAPD shut down an illegal pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Southern California on May 4th.
Wearing riot protection, cops entered the campus encampment after the university alerted protestors that anyone who did not leave voluntarily would be arrested. Officers managed to clear the encampment without clamping handcuffs on anyone. Police encircled the camp before moving in and dispersing participants. Student journalist Zain Kahn said there were about 100 people in the encampment, all of whom were cleared away by what he said were dozens of police officers and staff from USC’s Department of Public Safety.
Though some were chanting on their way out, “most” left peacefully, Kahn said.
Just to make sure, USC put out a social media post a bit later alerting people that students and employees with university IDs were welcome anywhere on campus, but they may not bring in “tents and related equipment.”
The scene at some other campuses has been rowdier. For example, cops at UCLA last week faced a much larger encampment fortified by plywood and backed up by aggressive students. Some officers fired rubber bullets.
Columbia University also called in police last week after protestors set up a huge encampment and blocked access to college buildings. But for two weeks, Columbia allowed the illegal blockade to go on, only taking action after protestors broke into a campus building and took it over. New York City police put a ladder up to a second-story window to enter the building and arrest the squatters.
The administration at USC sounded relieved that their relatively small protestor contingent was dealt with easily and without violence. President Carol Folt thanked the police for their professional and peaceful work. She said the university had no other choice than to call in law enforcement as the protestors were planning to disrupt graduation ceremonies. The protest was “spiraling in a dangerous direction,” she said.
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