By Rich McKay
(Reuters) -Los Angeles police made no arrests on Sunday while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California, following arrests and turmoil at universities across the country over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Other universities with graduation ceremonies on Sunday were bracing for more protests after dozens were arrested the previous day.
After USC requested assistance, police entered the encampment about 5 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) and began removing tents as students peacefully left the area, police said.
Campus protests have emerged as a new political flashpoint during a hotly contested and deeply divisive U.S. election year. Police have arrested over 2,000 protesters at dozens of colleges around the country.
Many of the schools, including Columbia University in New York City, have called in police to quell the protests.
Students and other protesters have called for universities to divest their financial ties to Israel and push for a ceasefire. In April, Los Angeles police arrested 93 people at USC after they cleared an earlier encampment.
More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault that has flattened the Palestinian territory, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Lisa Shumaker)
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