Written 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 unrest at universities across the United States over the war between Israel and Hamas.
Various American universities, where graduation ceremonies were held on Sunday, prepared for more protests after dozens of people were arrested on campus the day before.
After USC requested assistance, police officers entered the camp at around 5 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) and worked with the university's Department of Public Safety to remove tents while dozens of student protesters left the area peacefully, police said.
Campus protests have emerged as a political flashpoint during a contentious US election year as Democratic President Joe Biden seeks a second term in office. Police arrested more than 2,000 people during protests at dozens of universities across the country.
This week, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders made a comparison between the current demonstrations and those against the Vietnam War that contributed to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to run for re-election in 1968. “This could be Biden's Vietnam,” Sanders said.
“I'm very concerned that President Biden is putting himself in a position where he's alienating young people, not just young people, but a lot of the Democratic base in terms of his views on Israel and this war,” Sanders added.
Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair of President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, on Sunday rejected that comparison.
“I think the comparison to Vietnam is exaggerated. This is a completely different circumstance,” Landrieu told CNN's “State of the Union.”
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“However, this does not mean that this is not a very serious issue,” Landrieu added.
Under mounting political pressure, Biden on Thursday broke his silence on campus unrest over the war in Gaza, saying Americans have the right to demonstrate but not to unleash violence.
Several colleges, including Columbia University in New York City, called in the police to quell the protests.
At the University of Texas at Austin on Sunday, police-deployed drones hovered overhead as about 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered, along with about 50 spectators, local media reported. The speakers advised their fellow demonstrators to remain peaceful and not clash with the police.
Students and other protesters called on universities to cut their financial ties with Israel and press for a ceasefire in Gaza. In April, Los Angeles police arrested 93 people at USC after clearing a former camp.
At least four bomb threats were made against synagogues in the New York City area this weekend, police in the New York City area said, though none of them proved credible. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, noted these threats in a social media post, writing, “We will not tolerate individuals who sow fear and anti-Semitism. Those responsible must be held accountable for their despicable actions.”
More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations in Gaza, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping 252 others, 133 of whom are believed to still be detained in Gaza, according to Israeli statistics.
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