HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS AT CAMPUSES ACROSS U.S.

A UNIVERSITY in Los Angeles cancelled its main graduation ceremony today due to safety fears as student protests over the Israel-Gaza war continued to sweep the US.

The University of Southern California planned to hold the ceremony on May 10 that “traditionally brings 65,000 students, families and friends” to its campus but 90 protesters were arrested yesterday. It comes as administrators and police at college campuses across the US wrestle with how to address protests that have seen clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.

In the latest incidents, riot police arrested 33 people yesterday as a protest encampment that was set up at Indiana University Bloomington.

At Atlanta’s Emory University, 28 demonstrators were arrested yesterday after refusing to leave. In New York, Columbia University dropped a deadline for an end to an encampment. California State Polytechnic University,

Humboldt, has been negotiating with students who have been barricaded inside a campus building since Monday, rebuffing an attempt by the police to clear them.

Britain’s top diplomat in America, Dame Karen Pierce, fears hate-filled pro-Palestine protests could hit universities at home, The Sun reported.

The ambassador said: “Students have a right to protest. It has to be within the law. It’s the same back home in the UK.”