Police clear pro-Palestinian camps as protests intensify on US campuses

WASHINGTON

Police detained nearly 200 people at the U.S. universities over the weekend as they cleared pro-Palestinian encampments, in the latest campus clashes triggered by protests over Israel's war against Hamas.

From New York to California, students protesting the Gaza war slept in tents at college campuses, as some universities moved to shut down encampments and arrested dozens of demonstrators.

At Columbia University in New York City, where early protests sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, students and administrators have engaged in negotiations, the university said in a statement late on April 27.

“Dialogue between university officials and student organizers is ongoing. We want to be clear: There is no truth to claims of an impending lockdown or evictions on campus,” the Columbia administration's statement said.

On the East Coast, police in Boston detained about 100 people while clearing a protest camp at Northeastern University, with social media posts showing security forces in riot gear and officers loading tents onto the back of a truck.

The action was taken after some protesters resorted to "virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews,'" Northeastern University said in a statement on social media platform X.

On the opposite side of the country, Arizona State University police arrested 69 people for trespassing after the group set up an "unauthorized encampment" on campus.

Arizona State officials said a protest group - "most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff" - had set up a camp and then ignored repeated orders to disperse.

And in the U.S. heartland, police at Indiana University arrested 23 people as they cleared a campus protest camp, the Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported.

Police with shields, batons and other riot gear broke through a line of protesters who had linked arms, tackling those who did not move, the paper said.

The campus activists are calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, as well as for colleges to sever ties with the country and with companies they say profit from the conflict.

Police have carried out large-scale arrests at universities in recent days, at times using chemical irritants and tasers to disperse demonstrators.

In a statement on X, Northeastern said the area on campus where the protests were held was now "fully secured" and "all campus operations have returned to normal."

Dozens of students remained encamped yesterday at the University of Pennsylvania, despite the college president ordering disbandment after what he said were "credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct."

Meanwhile, Germany, Canada and France saw campus protest camp spring up on several campuses.

On the side of a tent in Rafah, a Palestinian wrote a message to the thousands of protesters on US university campuses.

"Thank you, students in solidarity with Gaza, your message has reached," it read.