Colleges nationwide turn to police to quell pro-Palestine protests as commencement ceremonies near

Austin, Texas — With final exams looming, student demonstrators early Thursday redoubled their discontent over the war between Israel and Hamas on campuses across the country as universities, including those in California and Texas, quickly called in police to end the demonstrations and to make arrests.

As they grapple with growing protests from coast to coast, schools are feeling the added pressure of May commencement ceremonies. At Columbia University in New York, students have defiantly set up an encampment where many will graduate in a few weeks in the presence of their families.

Columbia continued to negotiate with students after several failed attempts — and more than a hundred arrests — to clear the encampment, but several universities evicted demonstrators on Wednesday and quickly turned to law enforcement as protests bubbled up on their campuses.

Police peacefully arrested student protesters at the University of Southern California, hours after University of Texas at Austin officers aggressively arrested dozens in the latest clashes between law enforcement and those protesting the war between Israel and Hamas on campuses in the whole country.

Tensions were already high at USC after the university canceled a planned commencement address by the school’s valedictorian, who publicly supports Palestine, due to security concerns. After skirmishes with police early Wednesday, several dozen protesters, who stood in a circle with closed arms, were arrested one by one without incident later in the evening.

Officers surrounded the dwindling group, defying an earlier warning to disperse or face arrest. Outside the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed its campus.

Hours earlier in Texas, hundreds of local and state police — some on horseback and carrying batons — charged into protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the streets. According to the Department of Public Safety, officers pushed through the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and Texas Governor Gregg Abbott.

A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backwards to the ground, video shows. The station confirmed that the photographer had been arrested. A longtime journalist from Texas was knocked down during the chaos and could be seen bleeding before police helped him with medical personnel.

Dane Urquhart, a third-year student from Texas, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction,” adding that the protest “would have remained peaceful” if officers had not arrived in force.

“Because of all the arrests, I think there will be many more demonstrations,” Urquhart said.

Police left after hours of efforts to control the crowd, and about 300 protesters moved back in to sit on the grass and sing under the school’s iconic bell tower.

On Wednesday evening, university President Jay Hartzell said in a statement: “Our rules are important and they will be enforced. Our university will not be occupied.”

North of USC, students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, were barricaded in a building for a third day, and the school closed its campus all weekend and made classes virtual.

Harvard University in Massachusetts had tried to get ahead of the protests this week by restricting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn’t stop protesters from setting up a 14-tent camp on Wednesday, following a demonstration against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Students protesting the war between Israel and Hamas are demanding that schools cut financial ties with Israel and divest companies that make the months-long conflict possible. Some Jewish students say the protests have turned to anti-Semitism and made them fearful of setting foot on campus as graduation approaches, partly leading to a heavier hand from universities.

At New York University, police said this week that 133 protesters had been taken into custody, while on Monday more than 40 demonstrators were arrested at an encampment at Yale University.

Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier Wednesday. University President Minouche Shafik had set a midnight deadline Tuesday to reach an agreement to clear an encampment, but the school extended negotiations for another 48 hours.

During a visit to campus Wednesday, Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson called on Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”

“If this is not brought under control quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an opportune time for the National Guard,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to call in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our focus is to restore order, and if we can achieve that through dialogue, we will do so,” said Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president of communications.

Columbia student Omer Lubaton Granot, who hung photos of Israeli hostages near the encampment, said he wanted to remind people that Hamas is still holding more than 100 hostages.

“I see all the people behind me advocating for human rights,” he said. “I don’t think they have a word to say about the fact that people their age, kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are being held by a terrorist organization.”

Tala Alfoqaha, a law student at Harvard University, said she and other protesters want more transparency from the university.

“My hope is that the Harvard administration will listen to what its students have been asking for all year, which is divestment, disclosure and the dropping of any charges against students,” she said.

On Wednesday, about 60 tents remained in the Columbia encampment, which looked quiet. Security on campus remained tight, with identification required and police setting up metal barricades.

Columbia said it had agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain at the camp and that they would make it welcoming and prohibit discriminatory or harassing language.

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Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists in 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.