Coast-to-coast protests boil over
Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses across America descended into violence this week, with some campus officials laying the blame on “outside agitators”.
Riot police were deployed in large numbers and used tear gas, rubber bullets and cable ties while making dozens of arrests.
In Los Angeles, rival groups of protesters clashed at the University of California, getting involved in fistfights, throwing fireworks and using sticks to beat one another, before officers wearing gas masks and carrying batons controlled the fracas in the early hours of Wednesday (US time).
In New York, scene of the longest-running protest, more than 300 arrests were made as activists were evicted from university buildings, having barricaded themselves in and defied requests to leave.
Similar protests have paralysed universities in Arizona, Texas, Utah, Virginia and New Jersey in less than a fortnight as camps have developed at more than 50 campuses.
The demonstrations against the war in Gaza and American support for Israel have left the authorities struggling to cope, and have posed a headache for US President Joe Biden as he campaigns for re-election.
The White House said the Department of Justice and the FBI would “offer support” to universities investigating the protests.
Columbia University said it was left with no choice but to call in New York police. At one point a stream of officers with riot shields used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window of Hamilton Hall, a campus building occupied by demonstrators. Soon after, dozens of suspects were led out in handcuffs to waiting police buses. A total of 230 arrests were made at Columbia, and 70 more at the neighbouring City College of New York.
On the other side of the US, the University of California in Los Angeles also had to call for police as a group arrived to disrupt a pro-Palestinian protest. LA mayor Karen Bass called the violence “inexcusable”. Protesters denounced the police tactics as heavy-handed and said officers using force – including rubber bullets in Arizona – would stoke further demonstrations.
Baroness Shafik, Columbia’s president, said: “We believe that while the group who broke into the building includes students, it is led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university.”
New York mayor Eric Adams also suggested the worst of the violence was the work of “external actors”.