>> KTVU Fox two news at five starts now. >> Tonight, the university is confirming 80 arrests in access to the campus has been restored. Good evening. On this Friday, I'm Cristina Rendon and I'm Greg Lee. >> It was a dramatic day on the Santa Cruz campus, the university claiming it had no other choice but to dismantle the protest that had been disrupting daily operations and became a public safety hazard. >> KTVU Mark Sayer is live in Santa Cruz tonight with the latest developments. Mark >> Well, Christina and Greg, a surprising development here around 230 this afternoon when all of the law enforcement that had been here since about 1:00 in the morning with no announcement and no fanfare, simply departed. And so the protesters then moved back across the street that is the main entrance to campus that you're looking at right there. But so far there are no new tents. There are no new blockades. The ongoing protests right now is noisy, but it is peaceful. Gasia don't you cry using bullhorns, the pro-Palestinian protesters directed their chants at the dozens of CHP officers remaining on site to make sure the main entrance to campus remains open. 5678 Israel is a terrorist state, but it was a far different scene earlier Friday morning when, around 1 a.m, law enforcement arrived to start taking down the encampment that blocked access. At least one protester told us she actually had to go to the emergency room around 3 a.m. >> They say they started pushing in and as we held or stood our ground, an officer with his baton, shoved it straight into my stomach and kept pushing and told me to get back. But I couldn't get back. >> Protesters say they have no choice but to continue making their voices heard, even if it disrupts campus life. A spokesperson who says he is a student, declined to give his name but goes by the nickname Jaguar. >> This was done, just to disrupt the status quo, to let people know that business cannot go on as usual as our university is investing in genocide, the university released a statement saying in part, it is imperative that we restore full access to our campus and end other unlawful, unsafe actions as demonstrators continue to disrupt campus operations and threaten safety, even delaying access of emergency vehicles. >> It was impossible to do so without law enforcement intervention on our side. But a member of the campus faculty senate says he completely disagrees with the actions of university administration. >> I think it's shameful what the campus leadership has done. You know, destroying the encampment of the students, calling more than 150 police. >> Now, at this point, we do not know the status of the 80 people that were arrested here, nor how many of them were students, nor what the charges against them are. So the protest behind me, very lively right now. What the future holds, whether there be an effort to put the tents and the blockades back in place at this point, simply unknown reporting live from just outside the UC Santa Cruz campus. I'm Mark Sayer, KTVU, Fox two news, Greg, Christina and Mark. >> We know graduation at UC Santa Cruz is in about two weeks from now. So have university officials or any of the protesters said anything about potential contingency plans because of those ongoing protests? >> Well, all we know about the impact on academic life right now is that classes are online at the moment. They were for the past several days, including today, whether that continues next week and it has any material effect on the actual graduation ceremony. People, people walking the stages, for example, simply don't have any information about that at this point. But classes have been online for the latter part of this week, so clearly a
