Riot police arrest 50 people at UC Irvine and clear pro-Palestinian encampment

Students condemn crackdown by hundreds of officers after protesters took over a lecture hall

Hundreds of police officers in riot gear launched a crackdown on a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Wednesday at the University of California, Irvine, arresting 50 people and threatening students and faculty with batons and munitions.

Campus police and officers from across the region descended on the southern California public university after students with a Gaza solidarity encampment occupied a campus lecture hall. Photos and footage from the protest show sheriff's deputies and other police officers grabbing students, pointing less lethal" weapons at them and arresting students and at least one tenured professor with zip-ties.