Police clash with students in Texas and California as protests against Gaza war grow
Police bulldozed into student protesters at a Texas university on Wednesday, arresting more than a dozen people including a news photographer, while new student encampments sprouted at Harvard and other U.S. colleges in part of a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
As universities struggle to defuse unrest on campuses from coast to coast, some have quickly turned to law enforcement, including the University of Texas in Austin. Hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — shoved into protesters to get them off the main campus lawn, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. Officers pushed their way into the crowd to make arrests with zip ties.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was in the push-and-pull when an officer yanked him backward to the ground, video showed. The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.
At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody at the request of university officials and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction,” adding that the protest “would have stayed peaceful” if the officers had not turned out in force. “Because of all the arrests, I think a lot more [demonstrations[ are going to happen,” Urquhart said.
Police left after hours of efforts to control the crowd, and about 300 demonstrators moved back in to sit on the grass and chant under the school’s clock tower. On the West Coast, police responding to a demonstration at the University of Southern California got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents. At California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, students were barricaded inside a building for a third day, and the school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents on Wednesday following a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.