Arrests, evictions roll on at American campuses
Police tore down a protest encampment at the University of Texas on Wednesday, arresting more than a dozen people.
Police tore down a protest encampment at the University of Texas on Wednesday, arresting more than a dozen people, as unrest over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza simmered on US campuses.
Officers also detained several people at Fordham University in New York and cleared an encampment set up inside a school building; law enforcement was on standby at Columbia University across town after mass arrests the previous evening.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, protesters dug in, blocking an avenue near the centre of the campus in Cambridge during the height of Wednesday afternoon’s rush-hour commute.
Dozens of police cars patrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, in response to violent clashes overnight when counter-protesters attacked an encampment of pro-Palestinian students.
At the University of Texas, Dallas police removed an encampment and arrested at least 17 people for “criminal trespass”, the school said.
Demonstrators have gathered in at least 30 US universities since last month, often erecting tent encampments to protest at the soaring death toll in the Gaza Strip.
At Columbia and at the City University of New York, where police cleared out demonstrators overnight, some students decried the police behaviour.
About 300 arrests were made at Columbia and CUNY, Police Commissioner Edward Caban said. Mayor Eric Adams blamed “outside agitators” for ratcheting up tensions. Columbia students have denied outsiders were involved. University president Minouche Shafik, who called in police, said the turn of events “filled me with deep sadness.” “I am sorry we reached this point,” she said.
The protests have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints of criminal activity, anti-Semitism and hate speech.
The administration of Joe Biden – whose support for Israel has outraged many protesters – has also tried to walk that line. “We believe it’s a small number of students who are causing this disruption, and if they’re going to protest, Americans have the right to do it in a peaceful way within the law,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Donald Trump voiced his full-throated support for the police response at Columbia. “It was a beautiful thing to watch. New York’s finest,” he told a rally in Wisconsin. “To every college president, I say remove encampments immediately, vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for normal students.”
Late on Tuesday, police entered Columbia’s campus and climbed into Hamilton Hall – barricaded by protesters – via a second-floor window before leading out people in handcuffs.
In LA, counter-protesters sprayed chemical substances on to the pro-Palestinian encampment and attempted to tear down wooden boards and metal barricades before police arrived.
AFP
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