College campuses across the US are facing violent riots as pro-Palestinian protests and counter-protesters fight pitched battles and police move in to clear the campsites protesting against the Israel-Hamas war.
Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. Hours earlier, police burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralysed the school while inspiring others.
The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and in some cases from Israel itself. Police have arrested hundreds nationwide so far with many more arrests expected as authorities clamp down on the protests with force.
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In rarer instances, rather than calling in the police university officials struck agreements with protesters to prevent the disruption to campus life.
Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza have spread across the country, reaching from New York to Texas and California. It has prompted a heavy police response at many colleges, leading to confrontations and more than 1,000 arrests nationwide.
Columbia University
In the early hours of April 30, police officers carrying zip ties and riot shields stormed a Columbia University building being occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, streaming in through a window late Tuesday and arresting dozens of people.
Siege ladders were used by police after the protesters seized the administration building, known as Hamilton Hall, and held it for more than 20 hours earlier in a major escalation.
A statement released by a Columbia spokesperson said officers entered the campus after the university requested help. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds began nearly two weeks ago to protest the Israel-Hamas war.
“After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school said. “The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
NYPD spokesman Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries following the melee. The arrests — where protesters had shrugged off an earlier ultimatum to abandon the encampment Monday or be suspended — unfolded as other universities stepped up efforts to end the protests.
UCLA
Violence erupted hours after UCLA officials said on Tuesday the protest camp at the Los Angeles college “is unlawful and violates university policy. ” They also warned that students who did not leave would face possible suspension or expulsion.
Counter-protesters, who had previously set up a dueling area near the protest camp, appeared to try and bring down the camp barricades with pepper and skunk spray along with pieces of lumber used as weapons in the melee.
Heavily armed police were later seen arriving at the scene in armored vehicles. With law enforcement giving demonstrators a final warning before officers started removing and breaking down the encampment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the violence “absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable” in a spot on social media platform X and said officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were on the scene. Officers from the California Highway Patrol also appeared to be there. The university said it had requested help.
University of Utah
Protesters erected an encampment at the Salt Lake City school Monday. About two dozen tents were set up on the lawn outside the university president’s office, and roughly 200 students held protest signs and Palestinian flags. Later Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear sought to break up the encampment.
Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Twenty arrests were made. The university says it is against code to camp overnight on school property, and the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
A weeklong occupation of the administration building at the California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, ended about 3 a.m. Tuesday, when dozens of police officers wearing helmets and wielding batons cleared protesters from campus. The university said 25 people were arrested and taken to jail. A group of demonstrators showed up at the jail later Tuesday, waving Palestinian flags as they rallied for their release.
The university on the state’s rural north coast earlier announced a “hard closure,” meaning that people were not permitted to enter or be on the 8,000-student campus without authorization.
Arrest footage posted on the Lost Coast Outpost, a digital publication, showed about 100 police officers in riot gear arriving in vans and buses and then marching in with shields at the ready.
Some officers approached a group of protesters who were chanting “Viva, viva Palestina!” and sitting in a circle outside the administration building. Police picked them up one by one, tied their hands behind their back with zip ties and led them off campus.
Damage to the school since protests started on April 22 is estimated to be over $1 million, California state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, a Democrat whose district includes the campus, said Tuesday.
“Let’s be clear – it’s going to take time to heal, McGuire said. “Cal Poly Humboldt must be a campus where all faiths and students of all backgrounds feel safe, respected, and included. This has not been the case for Humboldt’s Jewish students and others over the past week.”
Yale
Yale authorities cleared a protesters’ encampment Tuesday morning after students heeded final warnings to leave, university officials said. Yale and New Haven, Connecticut, police officers were at the site, but no arrests were reported. Yale officials said they warned that students could be arrested and face discipline, including suspension, if they didn’t clear the grassy quad area.
Demonstrators moved their gathering to a public sidewalk area. It was the second encampment removed since last week. On April 22, police arrested nearly 50 people, including 44 students, and took down dozens of tents.
University of Connecticut
Police moved in on a campus encampment at the Storrs, Connecticut, school Tuesday morning and arrested 25 protesters after giving them several warnings to leave, UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said.
Twenty-four of those arrested were students; one was a former student. They were charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct after university officials said they repeatedly ignored directives by campus police to remove tents and disperse from an encampment first set up on April 24.
Tuesday’s arrests came a day after protest leaders met with university officials.
Harvard
In a statement, protesters said the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school “has sought to shut off all outside access and visibility to the encampment.”
“Meanwhile, the Harvard administration has initiated disciplinary action against nearly forty students and student workers,” the statement said.
Last week, Harvard limited access to its famous Harvard Yard to those with school identification after a camp was set up.
Princeton
The university’s president, Chris Eisgruber, posted a statement on Instagram saying 13 protesters — 12 affiliated with the university — were arrested Monday night after briefly occupying Clio Hall, the campus graduate school building.
“All those arrested received summonses for trespassing and have been barred from campus,” Eisgruber said in the statement. “The students will also face University discipline, which may extend to suspension or expulsion.”
Brown
Protesters at Brown University in Rhode Island agreed to dismantle their pro-Palestinian encampment Tuesday after school officials said five students will be invited to meet with five members of the Corporation of Brown University in May to present their arguments to divest Brown’s endowment from companies contributing to and profiting from the war in Gaza.
In addition, Brown President Christina Paxson will ask an advisory committee to make a recommendation on divestment by Sept. 30, which will be brought before the school’s governing corporation for a vote in October.
Northwestern
The school in Evanston, Illinois, said Monday that it had reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus since Thursday.
The university said in a statement that it agrees to answer questions within 30 days about specific holdings and investments. It also said it would reconvene an advisory committee to ensure “any vendor who profits from the Israeli occupation” will not provide services on campus. The statement said the university plans to further invest in supporting Muslim and Jewish life on campus.
Northwestern says it will permit peaceful demonstrations that comply with university policies through June 1, which is the end of spring quarter classes.
University of Texas, Austin
In a confrontation between police and protesters at the Austin school late Monday, 79 people involved were jailed, according to the Travis County sheriff’s department. Most were charged with criminal trespass.
About 150 protesters sat on the ground as state troopers and police encircled them, with hundreds of others shouting when officers dragged someone away. After police cleared the original group of demonstrators, hundreds of students and protesters ran to block officers from leaving campus. Protesters pushed in on officers, creating a mass of shoving bodies before police used pepper spray and set off flash-bang devices to clear a path for a van to take those arrested off campus.
University of Southern California
Encampment organizers met with university President Carol Folt for about 90 minutes Monday. Folt declined to discuss details of what was discussed but said the purpose of the meeting was to allow her to hear the concerns of protesters. Another meeting was scheduled for Tuesday.
The university has canceled its main graduation ceremony, set for May 10. It already canceled a commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.
George Washington
Before dawn Monday, demonstrators at the school in Washington, D.C., tore down metal barricades confining them to University Yard and set up more than a dozen tents in the middle of a street.
Later in the day, there were no signs of conflict. The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that it will continue monitoring the situation and that the protest remained peaceful.
The university said it will move law school finals to a different building because of noise from the protests.
Virginia Tech
A protest at the school in Blacksburg resulted in 82 arrests, including 53 students, a university spokesperson said Monday.
Protesters began occupying the lawn of the graduate life center Friday. After protesters took further steps to occupy the lawn and outdoor spaces Sunday, the university advised those gathered to disperse. Those who failed to comply were warned they would be charged with trespassing, the university said.
Case Western Reserve University
Dozens of students, faculty and staff camped out overnight at the Cleveland school hours after a similar encampment had been broken up and more than 20 people were detained but later released.
School officials initially had said protests would be limited to daylight hours but announced Monday night that students and others affiliated with the school would be allowed to stay at the makeshift encampment on the school’s public green.
Officials were checking the participants’ identification before they were given wristbands signifying they could remain at the site. Roughly 100 people camped out overnight without incident, officials said.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
About 30 people were detained by campus police Tuesday morning after the university said encampment protesters refused to leave. At 5:30 a.m., a university statement said protesters needed to remove tents and other items and leave the area by 6 a.m. or risk arrest.
Clearing out the encampment took approximately 45 minutes, according to the university. The university had not responded to a query about whether protesters were arrested and charged.
Tensions escalated Tuesday afternoon when protesters removed the American flag from a flagpole on campus central grounds and replaced it with a Palestinian flag, according to news outlets on the scene. Police then rehung the American flag as protesters and counter-protesters circled the area.
The university issued an alert that classes were canceled for the rest of Tuesday, the last day of scheduled classes.
University of Florida
Nine people, including six students, were arrested at the Gainesville university — where about 50 people began protesting last week — by campus police and state troopers Monday.
Steve Orlando, the school’s associate vice president of communications, said many of the protesters were “outside agitators” and they had been warned for many days that prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order, barring them from campus for three years. Individuals who didn’t comply were arrested after campus police gave them multiple warnings, he said.
Last week, university officials warned that students could face suspension and employees could be fired if they violated a series of rules.
University of Michigan
The Ann Arbor school told students, staff and faculty in a letter Friday that its upcoming commencement ceremonies likely will be the site of “various student expressions, including possible demonstrations.” Last week, a demonstration at the center of the campus had grown to nearly 40 tents.
The letter noted that school policies “make clear that interfering with speakers and events is not protected speech and is a violation of university policy.”
Portland State University
A small group of students at the downtown Portland, Oregon, school broke into its library late Monday. Students have been protesting in a park on campus and on the library steps since Thursday.
Campus was closed Tuesday as a result of the library occupation. District Attorney Mike Schmidt said the protesters’ actions had crossed into criminal behavior and those arrested would be prosecuted.