25/04/24
Riot police clash with pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses across US
Riot police clashed with pro-Palestine protesters as they were ordered to clear college campus demonstrations that have spread across the US.
Heavily armoured Texas troopers marched on to the University of Austin’s campus, where some of the most violent scenes unfolded.
Police also clashed with protesters in the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and overnight in Boston, where riot police were seen using batons against a sit-in outside Emerson College.
At least 34 people were arrested in Austin, including two journalists. A cameraman for local network Fox 7 Austin was violently pulled to the ground in a video that has been widely circulated.
The station confirmed that the photographer was arrested. A long-time Texas journalist was also knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff.
Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “over-reaction,” 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,” Mr Urquhart warned.
‘Our University will not be occupied’
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 iconic clock tower.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the university’s president, Jay Hartzell, said: “Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister said that the pro-Palestine protests on American college campuses have been “horrific”.
“Anti-Semitism on campuses in the United States is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. The world cannot stand idly by”, he said in a video posted to X, formally known as Twitter.
“It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally,” he said.
He added: “Now, fortunately, state, local, federal officials have responded differently but there has to be more. More has to be done.”
Universities in New York struggle to restore order
On Monday morning 47 students were arrested at Yale University following the third night of their overnight encampment on the school’s main plaza and at New York University, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody.
This week protesters in New York have faced threats from Columbia University president Nemat Minouche Shafik over “alternative options” of removal from the protest occupying the main lawn of the campus. Plans to evict them were later called off.
On a visit to campus on Wednesday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Shafik to resign “if she cannot bring order to this chaos.”
“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,” he said.
On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumours that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. “Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will,” said Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president for communications.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive New York democrat, hit out at the university for its threat to call in the NYPD on protesters who refused to disperse.
“Calling in police enforcement on non-violent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act,” she wrote in a post on X, formally Twitter.
“It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms”.
California students barricaded in building for third day
Also on Wednesday night, the University of Southern California declared its campus closed and asked the Los Angeles Police Department to clear a demonstration.
Police arrested students who surrendered to officers one by one, hours after campus police who took down an encampment were overwhelmed by protesters and requested LAPD help.
North of USC, students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, 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.
The measures did not 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 involved in the conflict.
Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly prompting a heavier hand from universities.
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