Campus reopens after LAPD clears Divest from Death encampment – ​​Annenberg Media

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) arrived at Alumni Park in the early hours of Sunday morning, completely clearing the Divest from Death encampment after 12 days.

Most of the encampment was sleeping in the hour before the LAPD arrived on campus at about 4 am In a Sunday morning email, USC President Carol Folt said LAPD was brought in at her request.

Saturday afternoon, the Divest from Death group attempted to hang a banner from Doheny Library’s windows, although it was not immediately clear what the message on the banner was since it failed to fully unfurl. From what could be seen, it seemed to include the name of Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died last week in an Israeli prison after being held for four months.

Hours later, Nancy Alonzo, the assistant director of the USC Village Residential Colleges came to the outskirts of the encampment with a letter, reading it aloud to the liaisons of Divest from Death

“The encampment has to go down. As we have mentioned before, your encampment and acts of vandalism and the theft of university property violate policies and the law,” she read. “These policies actually exist to protect the safety and security of every member of our community and we must enforce these policies consistently as we have always done.

“And then we also set up an alternative free speech area that’s available to you all and you can move the encampment there,” she continued.

According to coalition liaisons, Alonzo would not allow them to take a picture or obtain a physical copy of the letter.

The encampment continued its programming for the night, including a screening of a documentary titled, “WARmerica’s Fate,” while the campus increasingly shut down around them.

Around 5 pm, DPS officers announced closures of certain campus buildings and began erecting additional wire fences around Alumni Park and campus entrances. By 6:30 pm the USC central campus had been locked down completely, with students only allowed to leave.

Almost 12 hours after the statement was read, LAPD arrived at Alumni Park around 4 am, setting up a “press staging area” outside Bovard Auditorium and allowing outside press onto the campus for the first time in a week.

At one point, DPS officers threatened to “take” Annenberg Media reporters’ press passes and one officer told reporters, “act like the media, and we’re going to treat you like the media,” after asking why the staging area was so far from the encampment.

No public information officer appeared to be on the scene, and both LAPD and DPS officers failed to provide Annenberg Media with a representative from their respective departments to speak about the sweep.

At about 4:15 am, LAPD officers moved toward the encampment. Annenberg Media reporters, Zain Khan and Olivia Kelleher, live on the scene estimated there were a couple of dozen LAPD officers and many more DPS officers in the area of ​​Alumni Park.

USC sent a community message warning that LAPD was “clearing the center of UPC” and anyone who didn’t leave “could be arrested.” By 5:15 am, that message had changed, telling those remaining that they “will be arrested.”

Encampment members exited the encampment peacefully while drumming and chanting, “Long live the intifada,” and, “Free, free Palestine!”

As the sun rose Sunday morning, the encampment was completely cleared and officers began confiscating items and tearing down tents in the park. A statement from Joel Curran, USC’s senior vice president of communications, said it was “necessary” for the university to call in LAPD “to provide security as this was carried out peacefully.”

Folt confirmed in his note to the campus just before noon Sunday that there had been no arrests as a result of the most recent sweep and further said that the university would “not tolerate illegal encampments of any kind.”

LAPD confirmed to Annenberg Media that no arrests had been made.

The Sunday morning sweep came a week and a half after an April 24 crackdown by LAPD officers that ended in 93 total arrests, including 51 students, during an initial clearing. According to a statement by Folt, the university has “initiated disciplinary review processes for individuals who have violated both our policies and the law.”

In his statement, Folt reiterated that future demonstrations on campus would have to take place in the nearby, designated “Free Speech Area.”