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Protests are roiling college campuses across the US as upcoming graduation ceremonies are threatened by disruptive demonstrators, with students and others fuming about the war in Gaza and its mounting death toll.
Many campuses were quiet over the weekend, with protesters staying in tents set up as protest headquarters, though some colleges saw forced removals and arrests. Many students are demanding that their universities cut funding ties with Israel for launching a large-scale operation in Gaza to defeat the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Protesters on both sides of the heated debate shouted and shoved each other during dueling demonstrations at the University of California, Los Angeles on Sunday. “The university has increased security after some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators,” UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako said in a statement. No arrests or injuries were reported.
About 275 people were arrested Saturday at various campuses, including Indiana University in Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St. Louis. The number of nationwide arrests has reached 900 since New York police dismantled a pro-Palestinian protest camp at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 protesters on April 18.
The plight of detained students has been a central part of the protests, with students and a large number of faculty members demanding amnesty for the protesters. The issue is whether suspensions and legal records follow students into their adult lives.
Faculty at universities in California, Georgia and Texas have initiated or passed symbolic votes of no confidence in their leadership.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said US President Joe Biden “knows he has very strong feelings” but would leave handling the protests to local authorities.
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“People should have the ability to air their views and share their views publicly but it should be peaceful,” said Mr. Kirby said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in an interview that aired Sunday, called it a “dangerous situation” and blamed college administrators.
“There’s also anti-Semitism, which is totally unacceptable. I’m shocked to see it in this country,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Campus protests nationwide began as some students reacted to Israel’s occupation of Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took approximately 250 hostages. Israel, which has vowed to eliminate Hamas, has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests as anti-Semitic, but Israel’s critics say they use such accusations to silence opponents. Although some protesters were caught on camera making anti-Semitic remarks or threatening violence, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it was a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Student demonstrations have sprung up across the US in various locations, including New York, California, Missouri, and Massachusetts.
Initial protests at Columbia University in New York City, where protesters set up tents in the middle of campus, sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country. The demonstrations led the school to conduct remote classes.
Columbia set a series of deadlines for the protesters to leave the camp, which they missed, but bringing police back “at this time” is counterproductive, the school told students in an email. The university said in a statement Saturday night that students and administrators are engaged in negotiations to end the disruptions.
On Sunday, students walked among dozens of colorful tents in front of Lowe Library, where rows of chairs have already been set up in preparation for the opening in May.
At UCLA, police set up barricades before hundreds of protesters joined a growing crowd Sunday near tents where pro-Palestinian students are staying around the clock.
Pro-Israel demonstrators at the “Stand Up for Jewish Students” rally said their goal was to “stand up against hatred and anti-Semitism.” The protest was organized by the Israeli-American Council, whose leader Elan Carr urged the march to be peaceful, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We don’t want any violence,” Mr Carr told the crowd as the rally ended. “Don’t get involved. You go to your cars, you move peacefully. Can we agree?”
Across town, the University of Southern California said it was open Sunday after administrators closed the campus a day earlier because of what the school called vandalism and disruption.
USC came under fire after this year’s class valedictorian refused to publicly support the Palestinian cause. Later the director was filmmaker John M. Chu canceled his keynote address. Last week the school announced it was canceling its main graduation program, a day after police arrested more than 90 protesters in riots.
In the northern part of the state, officials on Saturday ordered an “enforced hard closure” of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Two halls were occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. The school said on Sunday that the cost of the occupation, including damage caused by “theft, vandalism and graffiti”, was estimated to be in the millions.
Washington University in St. Louis locked down some campus buildings and arrested protesters Saturday. Photos showed uniformed police trying to remove masked protesters, while others, also wearing masks, linked arms to thwart the efforts.
More than 100 people, including 23 students and four university employees, have been arrested on suspicion of trespassing, the university said in a statement. Megan Green, chairwoman of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, said in a social media post that she was present and that the protest was peaceful “until the police came in like an ambush.”
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said in a social media post that she and two of her campaign managers were among those arrested.
A statement from the university defended the move and said the protesters “did not have good intentions on our campus and this demonstration has the potential to get out of control and become dangerous.”
Some of those arrested are facing charges of resisting arrest and assault resulting in injuries to the three police officers, including a severe concussion, a broken finger and a groin injury, the statement said.
The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the arrests as “heavy-handed.”
Riot police cleared an encampment on Boston’s Northeastern University campus Saturday.
Massachusetts State Police said about 102 protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Northeastern said in a statement that the demonstration, which began two days ago, was “infiltrated by professional organizers” and used anti-Semitic slurs including “kill the Jews” with no connection to the university.
The student group Huskies for a Free Palestine disputed the university’s account, saying in a statement that the protesters were responsible for the slander and that none of the student protesters “repeated the abhorrent hate speech.”
The student protesters at the Boston protest tried to incite hate speech but insisted their event was peaceful.
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