Austin, Texas –
Some American universities called in the police to break up demonstrations against the war between Israel and Hamas, resulting in ugly clashes and dozens of arrests, while others seemed content to wait out the student protests on Thursday, as the final days of the The semester was passing and graduation ceremonies were approaching. .
At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested in an alley encampment overnight and four police officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Boston police said. Those arrested were expected to appear in Boston Municipal Court on Thursday.
Video of the fight shows students in the alley linking arms and using umbrellas to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground. University leaders had previously warned students that the alley, which is not exclusive property of Emerson, had a public right of way, and city officials had threatened to take action if protesters did not leave. The video shows officers warning the students to leave before moving out. Emerson canceled classes Thursday.
Another 93 people were arrested Wednesday night during a protest at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Police Department said. There were no reports of injuries.
As they battle growing protests from coast to coast, schools have the added pressure of graduation ceremonies in May. At Columbia University in New York, students defiantly set up camp where many will graduate in front of their families in just a few weeks. Columbia continued negotiating with the students after several failed attempts (and over 100 arrests) to clear the camp.
At USC, tensions were already high after the university canceled a planned commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing security concerns. After clashes with police early Wednesday, a few dozen protesters standing in a circle with arms linked were detained one by one without incident later that night.
Officers surrounded the dwindling seated group, defying an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of spectators watched as helicopters flew overhead. The school closed the campus.
Earlier Wednesday, officers from the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens of protesters. Hundreds of local and state police, including some on horseback and with batons, bulldozed protesters, at one point some of them falling to the street. Officers pushed through the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and the governor of Texas. Gregg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
A photographer covering the rally for Fox 7 Austin was in the tug-of-war when an officer knocked him back to the ground, the video shows. The station confirmed that the photographer was detained. A veteran Texas journalist was run over in the chaos and could be seen bleeding before police helped him reach emergency medical personnel.
Dane Urquhart, a junior from Texas, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction,” adding that the protest “would have remained peaceful” if officers had not come in force.
“Because of all the arrests, I think there will be a lot more (demonstrations),” Urquhart said.
Police retreated after hours of crowd control efforts, and about 300 protesters returned to sit on the grass and sing under the school’s iconic clock tower.
In a statement Wednesday night, university President Jay Hartzell said, “Our rules matter and will be enforced. Our university will not be occupied.”
North of USC, protesters at California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt, were barricaded inside a building for a third day. The school closed the campus over the weekend and made classes virtual.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had tried to get ahead of this week’s protests by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn’t stop protesters from setting up a 14-tent camp Wednesday after a demonstration against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
Students protesting the war between Israel and Hamas are demanding that schools cut their financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that enabled their months-long conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have descended into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus as graduation approaches, sometimes prompting a heavier hand from universities.
This week at New York University, police said 133 protesters were detained, while more than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
Columbia University avoided another confrontation between students and police Wednesday morning. University President Minouche Shafik had set a midnight Tuesday deadline to reach an agreement on clearing the camp, but the school extended negotiations into the early hours of Friday.
On a campus visit Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Shafik to resign “if he cannot bring order to this chaos.”
“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidations are not stopped, the time is right for the National Guard,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our goal is to restore order, and if we can achieve that through dialogue, we will,” said Ben Chang, vice president of communications at Columbia.
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists at various locations contributed to this report, including Joey Cappelletti, Will Weissert, Larry Lage, Steve LeBlanc, Dave Collins, Jim Salter, Haven Daley, Jesse Bedayn, John Antczak, Julie Walker and Joseph Krauss.