Law enforcement detains at least a dozen protesters at University of California, Irvine as they clear encampment

Police detained at least a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the University of California, Irvine as they cleared an encampment in front of a lecture hall on Wednesday.

A group of several hundred protestors entered the UC Irvine campus and began surrounding” the school’s Physical Sciences Lecture Hall at around 2:30 p.m., the university said in an emergency update. The university said it put out a mutual aid call to local law enforcement and is receiving assistance from the Irvine Police Department and Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities cleared what looks like at least half of student protesters at the encampment, aerials from CNN affiliate KABC show. Law enforcement used zip ties to restrain protesters and escorted them away from the encampment towards a parking lot. CNN has reached out to the Irvine Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and UC Irvine to confirm the number of protesters who were arrested.

Law enforcement started breaking up the encampment at the university shortly after 5:10 p.m. Wednesday, aerials show. The aerial footage shows a large cluster of police officers surrounding the group of tents outside the hall as they face a line of several protesters, and a number of protesters can be seen getting detained.

Protesters seemingly attempted to reestablish a barrier taken down earlier by law enforcement by piling wood panels and tents on top of one another. Live pictures from KABC show law enforcement dismantling these structures.

A sign on the building behind the encampment says “UC Divest from genocide” and another under it appears to say “drop suspensions defend students.” A large sign hung next to those on the building reads “Alex Odeh Hall,” seemingly referencing the Palestinian activist who served as the West Coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The majority of the protesters have dispersed from their encampment, but a small group of people remained scattered in a grassy area nearby, footage from KABC and KCAL show.

“Protest activity continues in the Physical Science Quad and Aldrich Park areas,” the university said. “Please avoid the area until further notice.”

Classes have been canceled for the remainder of the day on Wednesday and the university is urging people to stay away from campus, according to the emergency update. The university had initially asked anyone in the area to shelter in place, but later said they should leave the area.

Days later, Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement to the campus community that the university would continue to negotiate with pro-Palestinians on campus over issues of divestment. Student protesters opposing Israel’s military action in Gaza have largely demanded their universities sell investments in companies with financial ties to Israel.

The university presented a proposal to student leaders and received a counterproposal in early May. Gillman expressed concerns over some of the requests included in the counterproposal, according to the statement.

“The counterproposal calls for ending numerous external partnerships that support our students through scholarships and facilitate long-standing research collaborations,” Gillman said. “It also demands an end to a wide-range of academic and research collaborations with Israeli organizations and individuals. This would violate fundamental principles of academic freedom and would require us to discriminate based on a person’s nationality, which goes against our commitment to anti-discrimination and our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

In the statement, Gillman also thanked student protesters for ensuring that their encampment “remains peaceful and minimally disruptive of university activities.