Pro-Palestinian Protest Escalates at UC Irvine; Warning to Avoid Campus Issued

Pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at UC Irvine  and officials issued a warning to avoid campus  as law enforcement advanced on the physical sciences building, where a May 15 demonstration escalated into an apparent occupation. Protesters demanding the university divest from Israel over the Hamas war had blocked the entrance to the physical sciences building in an apparent occupation of the facility. All classes were canceled for the rest of Wednesday and staffers were told to work remotely Thursday. The protesters surrounded the lecture hall about 2:30 p.m., prompting campus police to request aid from Orange County sheriff’s deputies and Irvine police, among other neighboring agencies, said Tom Vasich, a university spokesman....