RAMALLAH, Wednesday, May 1, 2024 (WAFA) – American police raided the University of South Florida in Tampa in order to disperse a pro-Palestine student sit-in. 

According to local sources, the police further rounded up at least 10 students during the raid.

Local media reported that the police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the sit-in, coinciding with the continued expansion of the protests to other universities in Florida.

Demonstrators arrived at the university campus early morning, while video footage went viral on social media showed many demonstrators using umbrellas or banners to avoid exposure to tear gas fired at them by the police.

Clashes also occurred on Wednesday, during pro-Palestinian protests at the University of California, Los Angeles, according to images broadcast by American television stations, while universities across the United States are seeking to contain similar protests.

CNN reported that clashes began at dawn between pro-Palestinian groups and pro-Israel protesters.

The city's mayor's spokesman, Zach Seidel, said on the X platform that the Los Angeles Police "immediately responded to university authorities' request to provide support on campus."

On April 18, students who rejected the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip began a sit-in on the campus of Columbia University in New York, demanding that its administration stop its academic cooperation with Israeli universities and withdraw its investments in companies that support the occupation.

The state of anger expanded, with demonstrations extending to dozens of universities in the United States, including leading universities such as Harvard, George Washington, New York, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and North Carolina.

Y.S