Pro-Palestinian students face police officers at La Sapienza University on Thursday in Rome. Such demonstrations have swept the West over the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Classes at the University of California, Irvine, were held remotely on Thursday after 50 people were arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus that saw police clash with some demonstrators.

All those arrested on Wednesday afternoon were taken to the Orange County jail and released on citations, according to the university. At least two people who were taken into custody identified themselves as UCI faculty members, police said.

UCI officials said one student was injured and three police officers were taken to hospital. As of Thursday morning, two of the officers had been released.

Most of the protesters were arrested after failing to follow a police order to disperse.

A university spokesman said police were called to the campus when about 500 people expanded an encampment that was in front of a lecture hall for weeks, using popup tents, wooden pallets, coolers and other supplies. A small group of protesters barricaded themselves inside the building.

Orange County sheriff's deputies and Irvine police, along with other neighboring agencies, responded.

The situation on the campus intensified over the past week after some protesting students received suspension notices from the university, including some who were involved in negotiations with UCI administrators.

Protesters have called for the university to divest itself from investments in companies that profit from the conflict in Gaza, disclose the university's assets and investments and end joint academic programs with Israel, among other demands.

Sarah Khalil, fourth-year student and chair of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCI, said the university's response to Wednesday's protest was "unforgivable" and "irrational".

The clearance of the encampment will not end student protests, she said. "We still want divestment, we still want a liberated Palestine, and we're not going to stop until Palestine is free."

On Tuesday, the University of California's chief investment officer, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, announced that investments from companies that students are targeting in their call for divestment total $32 billion, which is nearly one-fifth of the system's overall assets.

Last month, Michael V. Drake, president of the University of California, said the institutions would not boycott or divest from Israel.

UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a statement that although the encampment had violated university policies since it was set up in late April, the violations did not rise to the level requiring police intervention until Wednesday afternoon. He called it "a last resort".

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Wednesday, police arrested 11 people after they did not move from the lawn outside the university's law school to the student union lawn, which was reserved for them.

Agencies contributed to this story.

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com