At Least 15 Arrested at U.C. Berkeley After Police Order Protesters to Disperse

Police officers on Thursday night raided a complex at the University of California, Berkeley, that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, taking several people away in handcuffs. A university spokesman said at least 15 people had been arrested.

The new encampment sprang up at the Anna Head complex a day earlier after demonstrators dismantled another larger camp earlier this week following a tentative agreement with university officials.

Some in the splinter group remained in the complex, a fire-damaged structure near People’s Park, overnight while others camped in tents outside it, hanging Palestinian flags and spray-painting the area.

Around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, dozens of officers from the California Highway Patrol and local police and sheriff’s departments began surrounding the area, using bullhorns to order protesters to disperse within 30 minutes or face arrest.

By 7:30 p.m., 15 people had been taken into custody and the number was expected to grow, said Dan Mogulof, a university spokesman. He said it was unclear how many of the protesters were U.C. Berkeley students.

Two days before the arrests, pro-Palestinian demonstrators dismantled a much-larger encampment on campus at Sproul Plaza after reaching a tentative agreement with the school chancellor, Carol Christ.

She said that the university would begin discussions around divestment from certain companies and that she planned to publicly support “efforts to secure an immediate and permanent cease-fire” by the end of the month. But she said that divestment from companies that do business with, or in, Israel was not within her authority.