USC Protesters Use Barricades from Canceled Graduation for Encampment

Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Southern California (USC) took steel barricades destined for the university’s main graduation ceremony and used them for their encampment.

In a video posted to X, steel barricades were seen surrounding the anti-Israel encampment.

When asked by a reporter, what her response was to Jewish students at USC who say they do not feel safe, University of Southern California President Carol Folt expressed that she feels “awful.”

“You know, I feel really awful for every student feeling like that and I’m trying to do everything I can to come to a peaceful resolution,” Folt answered.

“They just stole steel gates from campus and they’re making a barricade and you’re just letting this happen?” the reporter asked.

This comes days after USC announced it was canceling its main graduation ceremony due to security threats.

USC had reportedly moved in on an initial encampment that had been set up on campus, using sponge batons and zip ties to make arrests.

The university also previously canceled the speech of Asna Tabassum, the valedictorian, after it was revealed she supported the annihilation of Israel.

Encampments and protests have popped up across the nation on college and university campuses such as George Washington University, Rutgers University, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University, among others.

Students are arrested by Los Angeles police officers after a protest against the Israel-Palestinian war at the University of Southern California on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA.(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

An initial encampment was established at Columbia University on April 17. The following day, several students were suspended and hundreds of protesters involved in the encampment were arrested.

While the first encampment was removed, a second one popped up in its place until the New York Police Department raided Columbia University late Tuesday night, hours after anti-Israel protesters had seized control of a building on campus.

Protesters at the different encampments have a varying list of demands which include, but are not limited to the divestment from Israeli companies, the end of academic ties with Israeli educational institutions, for students who have been suspended or arrested to receive full amnesty, and for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

USC student protesters at the tent camp they erected at Founders Park on the USC campus in Los Angeles on April 27, 2024. The campus gates are closed to the public and the marquee 65,000-attendee “main stage” commencement ceremony is off. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty)

After Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Israel launched a self-defense operation in Gaza.

The attack on Israel left 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken as hostages. Roughly 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel by land, sea, and air, killing concert-goers at a music festival while others hunted down Jewish men, women, and children, subjecting many to torture, rape, and even death.