Hundreds of protesters arrested as universities blame outsiders for escalating violence

Protesters were arrested across several US campuses, as universities and police crack down on what they say are outsiders escalating pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Columbia University professors demonstrate outside the Columbia campus demanding the release of students. Picture: AFP.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested across several campuses, as universities and police crack down on what they say are outsiders escalating pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York. The University of Wisconsin-Madison said police dispersed an encampment and arrested 34 people. Tulane University in New Orleans said 14 protesters were arrested Wednesday, in addition to the six arrested a day earlier.

Universities and police have said people unaffiliated with the schools have joined or intensified the demonstrations protesting the Israel-Hamas war.

Tulane said the overwhelming majority of the protesters were outsiders. Adams said outside agitators were co-opting the protest movement at Columbia. The University of Texas at Austin said 45 of the 79 people arrested on campus on Monday weren’t associated with the school.

“These numbers validate our concern that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people from outside the University,” UT Austin said.

Protests turned violent Tuesday night at the University of California, Los Angeles. The university cancelled classes Wednesday after brawls erupted. Counterprotesters, some with their faces covered, tried to remove barricades from a pro-Palestinian encampment that the university had earlier demanded disperse, video footage showed.

Weeks of escalating protests on campuses across the country have disrupted academic life and inflamed tensions between pro-Palestinian protesters and those who oppose them. University leaders have grappled over how to tame the protests without disrupting speech rights. Many Jewish students have said they feel unsafe amid rising antisemitism while protesters have said their demonstrations are peaceful. Protesters are calling on their universities to divest themselves of investments in companies doing business with Israel.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Biden is monitoring the campus protests and the police responses to them. “Every American has the right to peacefully protest,” she said. “Seizing buildings, taking over buildings, is not peaceful protesting. I think we’ve been very, very clear about that.” She added that the administration believes that “it is a small percentage of students who are causing disruption.” Brown and Northwestern universities reached agreements with protesters to clear their encampments in exchange for letting protesters discuss divestment with university leaders. Yale University said protesters left their encampment Tuesday morning after the school threatened suspensions and arrests.

At Columbia, the protests that set off a nationwide movement reached a violent crescendo. Police on Tuesday night raided Hamilton Hall, a campus building students had barricaded with vending machines and sofas.

Officers in helmets removed people from the campus while students yelled “shame!” and “revolution!” at them. Some people were escorted onto police buses with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

At 1:30am. Wednesday, police were packing the encampment on the school’s main plaza into black trash bags. At 4am, the lawn was empty.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik has asked the NYPD to maintain a presence on campus until at least May 17, two days after the scheduled commencement date, “to maintain order and ensure encampments are not re-established.” “This turn of events has filled me with deep sadness,” Shafik wrote in an email to the university Wednesday. “I am sorry we reached this point.” The protests are happening as the school year winds down. Some schools have threatened that seniors who protest can’t graduate, or said students could be suspended or expelled. Columbia said protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall could face expulsion.

Columbia said there were no injuries during the arrests when Hamilton was raided. UW-Madison said a state trooper was injured after a protester struck their head with a skateboard.

At UCLA, videos showed fireworks being launched at the encampment and some protesters armed with sticks and other improvised weapons.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on X, “The violence unfolding this evening at UCLA is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.” Some kicked and pulled at the barricade as brawls erupted. Once police arrived, officers formed a human barrier between the two groups and began pushing protesters away from the scene.

UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block said Tuesday the demonstration included some people not affiliated with the university.

“Many of the demonstrators, as well as counterdemonstrators who have come to the area, have been peaceful in their activism. But the tactics of others have frankly been shocking and shameful,” he said.

New York City police said Wednesday said they hadn’t yet determined how many of the 119 people arrested at Columbia were students versus outsiders. They said some of the outside demonstrators were known to them.

“There is a movement to radicalise young people,” New York City Mayor Adams said. “I’m not going to allow that to happen.” New York police said Wednesday that they moved to arrest protesters after noticing they had shifted their tactics, including distributing pamphlets that said “globalise the intifada.” Police said some of the outside demonstrators there were known to them. The people arrested faced preliminary charges including trespassing, criminal mischief and burglary.

Protesters were arrested and in some cases buildings were occupied at schools including Cal Poly Humboldt, the University of Connecticut, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Princeton University, according to school and local officials. Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after an early-morning raid cleared an encampment Tuesday morning, local news footage showed.

Dow Jones