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Protester camps remain on college campuses as graduation events near

Pro-Palestinian protester encampment remains on USC campus with graduation events looming
Pro-Palestinian protester encampment remains on USC campus with graduation events looming 02:49

Nearly a week's worth of demonstrations on Southern California college campuses continued over the weekend, where some protester camps could still be spotted even as graduation events loom. 

The University of Southern California campus remains under controlled access, meaning only students, faculty, staff and registered guests can enter, on Saturday.

Even so, a large encampment could be seen in the middle of one quad on campus where one student reporter said they were told by a university representative that the camp must go. The protesters say that they were told the university would provide alternative "free speech" areas where the encampment can move instead. 

Related: USC to host LA Memorial Coliseum event after canceling commencement

It's been 12 days since the camp was constructed, the outside of which is littered with pro-Palestinian signs calling for the school to divest funds from companies that have ties to Israel. 

If protestors do not leave on their own, USC officials could call Los Angeles Police Department for help removing the camp like they did last week when 93 people were arrested

In response to those arrests, USC President Carol Folt announced that a disciplinary processes have been launched for individuals who violated the law and university policies.

Across town at University of California, Los Angeles, crews were spotted cleaning up some graffiti left behind by demonstrators last week. Phrases like "resist" could be seen spray painted on the cement outside of one building on campus as SkyCal flew overhead. 

Prior to this, an encampment that housed as many as 1,000 people according to reports. Chaos erupted at the camp on Thursday, where LAPD officers dressed in riot gear declared that it was an "unlawful assembly" and arrested more than 200 people after violence broke out between the pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a group of counter protesters.

Related: UCLA cancels classes after violence erupts on campus between protest groups

Now, campus police are blaming UCLA administration for the way that things ended up that evening. 

"The written guidelines for roles and responsibilities make clear that senior UC administrators on each campus are solely responsible for the University's response to campus protests; those administrators decide the objective, and campus police are only responsible for tactics in implementing those objectives," said a statement from Federated University Police Officers' Association, the union representing campus law enforcement on Saturday. "As such, the UCLA administration owns all the fallout from the response and lack of response to this protest."

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