At least 25 people were arrested by police during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), US media reported today.

The young people marched through the south campus of the university while reading the names of the thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza by the Israeli army.

The UCLA newspaper, Daily Bruin, shared images of a confrontation last night around 11pm between elements of campus and city police, as well as California Highway Patrol officers and protesters.

«We just want our people released,» one protest participant said in a video, apparently referring to the detainees. «There is genocide (in Gaza) and you are arresting and mistreating students!» another said.

More than a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters set up camps in Dickson Plaza, Kerckhoff Patio and Shapiro Courtyard, the publication reported.

The protests follow two earlier encampments organised by the UC Divest Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA to demand that the university sever its ties with companies associated with the Zionist regime’s military.

Michael Chwe, a political science professor, noted that the university police’s statement to disperse violated the students’ free speech rights.

«Peaceful protest is a very basic constitutional human right,» he warned. «The use of violence on a university campus is totally contrary to all our values,» he stressed.

Police dismantled the illegally declared encampment at UCLA and according to a statement quoted by NBC News and CNN, around 150 protesters remained at the site in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Tensions on major US campuses have risen in recent days, weeks after police intervened to break up protests across the country, from New York to California, with an estimated 2,000 arrests.

According to reports, the arrests were made on charges related to intentional disruption of university operations, a crime that carries a possible six-month jail sentence, and those involved were suspended for 14 days.