On Thursday evening, police raided a University of California, Berkeley complex occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, taking several people away in handcuffs. A university spokesperson said at least 12 people had been arrested, but that number was expected to rise.
The new encampment emerged at the Anna Head Complex on Wednesday after protesters dismantled another, larger encampment earlier this week following a tentative agreement with university officials.
Some members of the splinter group stayed overnight at the compound, a fire-damaged structure near People’s Park, while others camped in tents outside, hanging Palestinian flags and patting the area with paint. .
On Thursday, around 6:30 p.m., dozens of officers from the California Highway Patrol, local police and sheriff’s departments began surrounding the area, using megaphones to order protesters to disperse within 30 minutes or face death. be arrested.
By 7:30 p.m., at least a dozen people had been arrested, said Dan Mogulof, a university spokesman. He added that it was unclear how many of the protesters were UC Berkeley students.
Two days before the arrests, pro-Palestinian protesters dismantled a much larger encampment on the Sproul Plaza campus after reaching a tentative agreement with the school’s chancellor, Carol Christ.
She said the university would begin discussions about divestment from some companies and planned to publicly support “efforts to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire” by the end of the month. But she said divestment from companies doing business with or in Israel was not within her authority.
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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