Some campuses call cops to break up pro-Palestinian protests
Some U.S. universities called in police to break up demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war, resulting in ugly scuffles and dozens of arrests, while others appeared content to wait out student protests Thursday, as the final days of the semester ticked down and graduation ceremonies loomed.
At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested at an alleyway encampment overnight and four police officers suffered injuries that were not lifethreatening, Boston police said. Those arrested were expected to appear Thursday in Boston Municipal Court.
Video of the scuffle shows students in the alleyway linking arms and using umbrellas to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground. College leaders had earlier warned students that the alley, which is not solely owned by Emerson, had a public rightof-way and city authorities had threatened to take action if the protesters didn’t leave. The video shows officers first warning students to leave before moving in. Emerson canceled classes Thursday.
Another 93 people were arrested Wednesday night during a protest at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Police Department said. There were no reports of injuries.
While grappling with growing protests from coast to coast, schools have the added pressure of May commencement ceremonies. At Columbia University in New York, students defiantly erected an encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks. Columbia continued to negotiate with students after several failed attempts — and more than 100 arrests — to clear the encampment.
At USC, tensions were already high after the university canceled a planned commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns. After scuffles with police early Wednesday, a few dozen demonstrators standing in a circle with locked arms were detained one by one without incident later in the evening.
Officers encircled the dwindling group sitting in defiance of an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed the campus.
Earlier Wednesday, officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens of protesters. Hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — bulldozed into protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. Officers pushed their way into the crowd and made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.