'Normal operations' resume at UC San Diego after dozens of protestors arrested

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — "Normal operations" at UC San Diego resumed on Tuesday, less than a day after more than 60 pro-Palestinian protestors were arrested and clean-up crews began to clear the area where the "Gaza Solidarity" encampment formerly stood.

The escalation to the demonstration at the La Jolla campus marked the latest clash between university officials and students in the movement pushing back against Israel's military campaign in Gaza that has gripped college campuses around the globe over the last few weeks.

Just shy of a week after UCSD students set up their encampment near Geisel Library, which was inspired by the one formed at Columbia University last month that set the protest campaign in motion, hundreds of police cleared the area and took 65 demonstrators into custody.

UCSD officials suspended operations on the west end of campus around 5:40 a.m. Monday, minutes before law enforcement moved in to disperse the crowd. Road closures were put in place and instruction was moved to "remote operations."

At least two people sustained minor injures in the efforts to clear the encampment, according to UCSD Police. Video of the scene captured by protestors and FOX 5/KUSI shows use of batons and what appeared to be pepper spray against demonstrators while snipers were stationed on rooftops.

Of the 65 protestors arrested, campus police said 40 were known students, while the remaining 25 were described as either unaffiliated or their relationship to the university was unknown. Campus officials said the confirmed students were placed on "immediate interim suspension."

In a statement Monday afternoon, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla defended the decision to bring in police to clear the encampment, saying it "violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.”

He specifically pointed to wooden stakes, propane tanks, metal and plywood "shields," aerosol spray cans and a sword that were recovered at the campsite as part of the safety concerns.

The chancellor had warned of potential intervention in a statement Wednesday afternoon, hours after the encampment was erected, describing the site as a "violation of campus policy.” He added that students could be met with sanctions, such as suspension or legal action.

Up until Monday, the encampment had largely remained calm, aside from drawing a group of counter-protestors and health inspectors over the weekend.

On Sunday night, signs were posted at the north and south ends of the encampment to notify students that they would be "fully accountable under the student code of conduct for any and all violations, including participating in encampments on campus.”

Photos of the signs were published by The Triton, one of UCSD’s two student-led news outlets.

Last week, student organizers of the protest encampment said they planned to be there for as long as possible or until their demands were heard by the university.

This includes asks of the university administration to “Affirm Palestinians’ right to life and safety,” cut financial and academic ties with Israel, and call for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting, which they describe as an unfolding genocide against Palestinians.

The demands echoed those of other camp sites formed at dozens of college campuses across the country over the last few weeks, including Columbia University, University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles.

In a statement Monday night, faculty of UCSD's Ethnic Studies department said they were "outraged" by the use of police to dismantle the encampment, saying the chancellor "wrongly claims that the encampment threatened safety."

"Hostile actions by the administration and the police they ordered onto campus caused disastrous upheaval, including physical injuries and an authoritarian fracturing of peaceful student organizing and community," the statement continued.

"The deployment of police, including snipers on top of the Student Health Building, was a shocking abdication of the Chancellor's mandate to support and protect our students."

In a separate statement Monday, the coalition of student groups who organized the encampment, called the UCSD Divest Coalition, described the intervention to dismantle the site as something that "willfully endanger[ed]" students, mostly those from communities of color.

Now that normal operations have resumed, UCSD students are going to class with no interruptions and campus employees are showing up for work in person.

“It’s my last week working here so it’s very exciting. It was nice to have a work from home day yesterday, I guess," said one employee, Mason Farley. When asked by FOX 5/KUSI about if he had ever seen anything like yesterday's clash on campus, Farley said that he had not.

"I feel like this school is kind of more chill. I mean it was nonviolent anyway. It’s not like the encampment was terrible other than it just being on campus, but it is private property I guess so they’re allowed to kick them off," he continued.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.