Tensions flare at US universities over Gaza protests

NEW YORK

Tensions have flared between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several U.S. universities, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrested.

The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on school grounds, have spread to other campuses, including Yale, MIT and others.

Classes were moved online on April 22, with university president Nemat Shafik calling for a "reset" in an open letter to the school community.

Last week, more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police onto the private campus, a move that seemingly escalated tensions and sparked a greater turnout over the weekend.

Mimi Elias, a social work student who was arrested, told AFP: "We are going to stay until they talk to us and listen to our demands."

Joseph Howley, an associate professor of classics at Columbia, said the university had reached for the "wrong tool" by involving police, which had attracted "more radical elements that are not part of our student protests."

As the Jewish holiday of Passover began on April 22, social media images appeared to show pro-Palestinian Jewish students holding traditional seder meals inside the protest areas on multiple campuses, including at Columbia.

Further downtown, police began detaining protesters who had set up their own encampment at New York University, the New York Times reported, after the school called the students' behavior "disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing."

There were also demonstrations at MIT, the University of Michigan and Yale, where at least 47 people had been arrested on April 22 after refusing requests to disperse.

At Harvard, university officials suspended the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, the student group said on Instagram.