Police clash with US students as Gaza protests grow
Police have bulldozed into student protesters at a Texas university, while new student encampments sprouted at Harvard and other colleges in part of a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
As universities struggle to defuse unrest on campuses from coast to coast, some have quickly turned to law enforcement, including the University of Texas at Austin.
Hundreds of police shoved into protesters to get them off the main campus lawn on Wednesday, at one point sending some tumbling into the street.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel.
At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody on Wednesday.
On the west coast, police responding to a demonstration at the University of Southern California got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents.
Other demonstrations took place at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and California State Polytechnic in Humboldt.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables.
That did not stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents on Wednesday following a rally against the university's suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
US Speaker Mike Johnson said his visit to Columbia University was meant to support Jewish students.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its months-long conflict.
Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly prompting a heavier hand from universities.
At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody, while more than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police on Wednesday.
University president Minouche Shafik had set on Tuesday a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment but the school extended negotiations for another 48 hours.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"What's happening in America's college campuses is horrific. Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. pic.twitter.com/ZuoeAUyP2s— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 24, 2024
On a visit to campus Wednesday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Shafik to resign "if she cannot bring order to this chaos".
Johnson faced at-times vulgar heckling and booing while speaking outside the university library, where called on violent protesters to be arrested and threatened to cut off federal funding to universities that failed impose order.
Police first tried to clear the encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters.
The move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.
On Wednesday about 60 tents remained at the Columbia encampment, which appeared calm, and security remained tight around campus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in a video statement, saying the response of several university presidents has been "shameful" and calling on state, local and federal officials to intervene.
with Reuters
