Detroit (US), May 31 (AP) Police broke up a pro-Palestinian encampment on Thursday at Wayne State University in Detroit and arrested at least 12 people after organisers turned down offers to meet with school officials and refused to leave.

President Kimberly Andrews Espy cited health and safety concerns and disruptions to campus operations. Staff were encouraged to work remotely this week, and in-person summer classes were suspended.

Also Read | India on Israeli Attack in Rafah: MEA Expresses Deep Concern Over Israeli Air Strike on Refugee Camps for Displaced People in Gaza’s Rafah (Watch Video).

“No individual or group is permitted to claim campus property for their own use and deny others access to that property,” Espy said.

The camp, she added, “created an environment of exclusion — one in which some members of our campus community felt unwelcome and unable to fully participate in campus life”.

Also Read | Andrew Tate Loses Appeal to Relax Judicial Restrictions as He Awaits Human Trafficking, Rape Trial.

Later Thursday, more than 100 graduates walked out of an outdoor commencement ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, near Boston. Some were wearing keffiyehs, the checkered scarves that represent Palestinian solidarity, over their caps and gowns as they chanted “free, free Palestine” and held signs that said, "All eyes on Rafah.”

The event was paused for at least 10 minutes before the main speaker's remarks.

In Detroit, TV video showed Wayne State and city police in riot gear tearing down fencing and breaking down tents erected May 23 on green space near the undergraduate library.

The protesters chanted, “There's no riot here, why are you in riot gear?”

At least 12 people were arrested for trespassing or other offenses, including one for assaulting a police officer, Wayne State spokesperson Matt Lockwood said.

Protest camps sprang up across the US and in Europe as students demanded their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that they say support its war in Gaza.

Organisers seek to amplify calls to end Israel's war with Hamas, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians.

Wayne State has 16,000 undergraduate students but fewer during the summer term. The protesters have demanded that the school divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel, provide a full disclosure of investments and cease delegation trips to Israel.

Wayne State this week posted video of its efforts to invite protesters to private meetings with Espy and other officials if they would dismantle the camp. Lockwood said all of the university's efforts were rejected.

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, visited the encampment site on Thursday after it was broken up to offer support to the protesters.

Ali Hassan, who represents WSU Students for Justice in Palestine, told WXYZ-TV this week that he believed the university's shift to remote learning means the administration is taking notice of the student protests.

“The reason that they went remote is because we have put pressure on them,” he said.

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on May 21 broke up a similar encampment after 30 days. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)