Pro-Palestinian protests pick up pace across America 

A string of protests and subsequent arrests at Columbia University has sparked outrage among pro-Palestinian college-goers across America

Pro-Palestinian students and activists face police officers on the campus of  NYU. Universities have become the focus of intense cultural debate in the United States since the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel's overwhelming military response to it. (Picture: Alex Kent/AFP/Getty

The students at an encampment at Columbia University who inspired a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across America dug in for their 10th day yesterday, as administrators and police at college campuses from California to Connecticut wrestle with how to address protests that have seen scuffles with police and hundreds of arrests.

The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself. Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities.

Officials at Columbia and some other schools have been negotiating with student protesters who have rebuffed police and doubled down. Others have quickly turned to law enforcement to douse demonstrations before they take hold.

After a tent encampment popped up Thursday at Indiana University Bloomington, police with shields and batons shoved into protesters and arrested 33. Hours later at the University of Connecticut, police tore down tents and arrested one person. And at Ohio State University, police clashed with protesters just hours after they gathered Thursday evening. Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, said university spokesman Benjamin Johnson, citing rules barring overnight events.

The clock is ticking as May commencement ceremonies near, putting added pressure on schools to clear demonstrations. At Columbia, protesters defiantly erected a tent encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks.

Columbia officials said that negotiations were showing progress as they neared the school’s deadline of early Friday to reach an agreement on dismantling the encampment. Nevertheless, two police buses were parked nearby and there was a noticeable presence of private security and police at entrances to the campus.

“We have our demands; they have theirs,” said Ben Chang, a spokesman for Columbia University, adding that if the talks fail the university will have to consider other options.

Just past midnight, a group of some three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters handed out signs and started chanting outside of the locked Columbia University gates. They then marched away as at least 40 police officers assembled nearby.

George Washington University students rally on campus on Thursday, April 25. Picture: Jose Luis Magana/AP

Wave of protests

The wave of arrests in Columbia sparked off a wave of protests across America:

The University of Southern California has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony as its campus is roiled by protests. The university already canceled a commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.

The Los Angeles Police Department said more than 90 people were arrested Wednesday night for alleged trespassing during a protest at the university. One person was arrested for alleged assault with a deadly weapon.

The University of Texas campus was much calmer on Thursday, a day after a demonstration saw police and state troopers in riot gear and on horseback make dozens of arrests and force hundreds of students off the school’s main lawn.

University officials pulled back the campus barricades and allowed another demonstration involving students and some faculty on the main square underneath the school’s iconic clock tower. The group was also protesting the Wednesday arrests.

While the group was vocal with chants and angry shouts against Israel and campus leadership, the demonstration was far less volatile. No violence erupted as a small group of campus police watched from the steps of the tower building. The gathering lasted about two hours.

University president Jay Hartzell said 26 of the 55 people arrested Wednesday had no affiliation with the university.

About 50 students at George Washington University set up a tent encampment on the school’s university yard on Thursday.

The protest at the school grew steadily through the morning, with demonstrators waving Palestinian flags, beating drums, and chanting slogans. Later in the day, a group of Georgetown University students and professors staged their own protest walkout and marched to the George Washington campus to join the protesters there.

The university said peaceful demonstrations were permitted, however people not associated with the university were not allowed to protest on campus and overnight encampments were not allowed on university property. It said the protesters must remove tents and disperse by 7pm.

Trying to stay ahead of protests, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, locked most gates into its famous Harvard yard ahead of classes Monday and limited access to those with school identification.

The school also posted signs warning against setting up tents or tables on campus without permission. Those efforts didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday, which came after a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Protesters at the University of Northern California used furniture, tents, chains, and zip ties to block entrances to an academic and administrative building on Monday. Protesters chanted, “We are not afraid of you!” before officers in riot gear pushed into them at the building’s entrance.

On Thursday, the university said protesters continued to occupy the two buildings on campus and it was making contingency plans, including possibly keeping campus closed beyond Sunday.

Later in the day, faculty members met with protesters, trying to negotiate a solution.

Boston Police said that 108 people were arrested on Thursday at an encampment at Emerson College.

Police said four officers suffered injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

The school said the alley where some protesters have set up tents is owned by the city, and Boston police have warned of imminent law enforcement action. The college said campus police were offering escort services for students after officials received credible reports of some protesters engaging in “targeted harassment and intimidation of Jewish supporters of Israel.”

Protesters face off with mounted state troopers at the University of Texas on Wednesday, April 24. Picture: Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP

At New York University (NYU), an encampment set up by students swelled to hundreds of protesters earlier this week. Police on Wednesday said that 133 protesters had been taken into custody. They said all were released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.

Atlanta police and Georgia state troopers dismantled a camp on Emory University’s quadrangle. University police had ordered several dozen demonstrators who set up tents early Thursday morning to leave.

A long line of officers surrounded the encampment of about three dozen tents as protesters chanted slogans supporting Palestinians and opposing a public safety training center being built in Atlanta.

The two movements are closely entwined in Atlanta, where there has been years of “Stop Cop City” activism that has included a fringe of anarchist attacks on property and the killing by state troopers of a protester who was occupying the site.

Emory’s vice president for public safety Cheryl Elliott said 28 people were arrested, including 20 members of the university community. Some had already been released.

Northwestern University changed its student code of conduct Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus as student activists set up an encampment. The students want the university to divest from Israel, among other things.

Protests continued at Yale, though the number of students involved had visibly shrunk since Monday, when 48 people, including 44 students, were arrested and charged with trespassing after camping out for several days on Beinecke Plaza. 

The vast majority of those arrested were charged with trespassing.

A few dozen protesters set up tents and occupied a building Thursday at the Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the public State University of New York system. Protesters sat on the floor or milled around, many wearing face masks and keffiyas. Other protesters outside the building held signs and Palestinian flags.

Students at The City College of New York in Harlem set up an encampment. On Thursday evening, a mix of New York police officers and campus security guards confronted protesters. But they were quickly outnumbered by protesters, who locked arms and cut off their path. The officers retreated, drawing cheers from the encampment.

Police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters linked arm in arm at Indiana University Bloomington on Thursday afternoon, arresting 33 people. Police made the arrests after an encampment was set up on campus.

Tents began to appear on Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus early Thursday, with nearly 30 tents set up by late afternoon, and about 100 students gathered near the campus center, engaging in chants.

Eli Folts, an organizer who is junior at the university, said that many of the students have felt comfortable showing their faces “partially because of the police response.” He said “police liaisons” have been assigned to interact with the police officers, who have come by the encampment about every hour.

Police arrested one protester and tore down tents at the University of Connecticut on Thursday, after students set up an encampment.

Pro-Palestinian protesters are pushed to the edge of campus at the University of Texas Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. Picture: Ricardo B Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman/AP

Since the Israel-Hamas war began, the US Education Department has launched civil rights investigations into dozens of universities and schools in response to complaints of antisemitism or Islamophobia.

Among those under investigation are many colleges facing protests, including Harvard and Columbia.

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