Student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza continue to spread across the United States, following the arrest last week of more than 100 protesters at Columbia University.
According to a count by the Reuters news agency, there were almost 550 arrests last week related to protests at major universities in the United States.
Students want universities to cut ties with companies that help Israel’s war in Gaza and, in some cases, with Israel itself.
Some universities have called in the police to end the protests, leading to clashes and arrests, while others appear to be biding their time as the academic semester enters its final days.
The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony, scheduled for May 10, following the arrest of 93 people on the Los Angeles campus on Wednesday.
At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested overnight and video showed students linking arms to resist officers, who then moved forcefully through the crowd, knocking some students to the ground.
University of Michigan. Photo: Reuters
George Washington University. Photo: Reuters
Student protester Ocean Muir said: “There were just more police everywhere.
“It felt like we were slowly being pushed and crushed.”
She said police picked her up by her arms and legs to take her away and she was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
On the Emory University campus in Atlanta, 28 people were detained and the local branch of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace said police used tear gas and Tasers against protesters.
Police admitted using “chemical irritants” but denied using rubber bullets.
Cheryl Elliott, Emory’s vice president of public safety, said the goal was to clear the area of a “disruptive encampment while holding people accountable under the law,” but human rights groups questioned the “apparent use of excessive force.” against freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, charges were dropped against 46 of the 60 people detained by police at the University of Texas.
Harvard University. Photo: Reuters
Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester on the USC campus in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Reuters
Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester on the USC campus in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Reuters
At Indiana University in Bloomington, police with shields and batons pushed through a line of protesters and arrested 33 people.
At the City College of New York, police officers walked away from protests, to applause from hundreds of students gathered on the lawn of the Harlem campus.
At California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt, students have been barricaded in a campus building since Monday, and staff are attempting to negotiate.
At the University of Connecticut, one protester was arrested and tents were torn down, while protests continued at Stanford University and on the campus of Princeton University in New Jersey.
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Harvard University is among those that have not taken action against protesters who have set up tents.
In Columbia University in New York, where the protest movement beganuniversity officials remain deadlocked with students.
Police cleared the tents and arrested more than 100 people last week, but students put them up again in an area where graduation ceremonies will be held in a few weeks.
The administration has given protesters until Friday to leave.
There have been accusations that some pro-Palestinian protesters have harassed or abused Jewish students, but protesters blame outsiders trying to infiltrate and smear their movement.
Protest leaders admit there have been abuses against Jewish students, but insist the protests are not anti-Semitic.
Some of the universities have seen counter protests from supporters of Israel.