Schools join Northwestern and Brown in arriving at agreements with students to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampments
Students at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis reached agreements with administrators on Thursday to peacefully dismantle their Gaza solidarity encampment protest.
Rutgers and the University of Minnesota now join Northwestern and Brown in successfully reaching deals to peacefully end their encampment protests.
Continue reading...Incident, which did not result in injuries, under review, while in California students and faculty condemn police crackdown at UCLA. This blog is now closed.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Kaz Daughtry, has confirmed that Fordham University was among a number of educational institutions which requested police assistance on campus to disperse protests.
He said that individuals who refused to disperse has been arrested without incident.
Your @NYPDnews officers continue to protect the right to peacefully protest, but lawlessness will not be tolerated. I commend the professionalism consistently displayed by our officers.
In light of the activities that are currently happening, we further request that you retain a presence on campus through at least May 22, 2024 (when commencement and diploma ceremonies are completed) to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished.”
Continue reading...Slow response from authorities left students shocked as people wearing white masks attacked pro-Palestine protesters
When Meghna Nair, a second-year student at the University of California, Los Angeles, saw a masked group of people headed toward the pro-Palestine encampment on campus late on Tuesday evening, she expected trouble.
“I knew where they were going. I had an idea what they planned to do,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Continue reading...More than a thousand supporters at a pro-Palestine encampment in California face arrest by police, a day after it was attacked by pro-Israel counter-protesters
Tensions are growing at the University of California where hundreds of police in riot gear have gathered after warning pro-Palestinian protesters to disperse or face arrest, a day after their encampment was violently attacked by masked counter-protesters.
Police began forming lines near the encampment at the Los Angeles campus and ordered the dispersal of more than a thousand people who had gathered in support of the protesters on Wednesday night, warning over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave could face arrest.
Continue reading...Los Angeles mayor calls late-night attack by counter-demonstrators ‘abhorrent’ as footage shows people wielding sticks
The University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some of the worst violence seen since students across the US intensified their protests in support of Gaza.
As the Los Angeles mayor called the violence “abhorrent” and California’s governor said he was monitoring the situation, UCLA announced it was cancelling all classes on Wednesday “due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night”.
Continue reading...Tensions continue after night of unrest at UCLA and Columbia, as New York mayor blames ‘outside agitators’ for escalation
Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after protest hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about “outside agitators” driving escalation.
The number of arrests of student protesters had exceeded an estimated 1,300 by Wednesday afternoon since the start of the latest bout of protests two weeks ago, as more students were detained. This added to tallies by the Associated Press and Axios earlier on Wednesday, across more than 30 campuses, coast to coast and north to south.
Continue reading...Alvin Bragg to speak to reporters after about 300 people were arrested; Gavin Newsom says, ‘The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence’
The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters’ defied a 2pm Monday deadline to abandon their camp at Columbia or face suspension. The university promptly began suspending participating students.
Posts on an Instagram page for protest organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment on campus and join them at Hamilton Hall. Those signs of supports surfaced as the UN human rights chief said he was “troubled” by how law enforcement has dealt with the recent wave of campus demonstrations.
A little after 9 p.m. this evening, the NYPD arrived on campus at the University’s request. This decision was made to restore safety and order to our community.
After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.
The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
Continue reading...NYPD enters campus Tuesday evening to clear out academic building taken over by protesters earlier in the day
Hundreds of New York City police officers entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening to clear an academic building taken over by pro-Palestinian students the day before, as tensions surrounding the students’ campus encampment for Gaza have roiled the New York school for two weeks.
Live video images showed police in riot gear marching onto the upper Manhattan campus, the focal point of nationwide student protests opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.
Continue reading...The top House Democrats, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they will oppose any attempt from far-right Republican to vacate Mike Johnson as speaker
Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates has condemned protesters’ usage of the word “intifada” and their takeover of a building on Columbia University’s campus, saying the action was “not peaceful”:
President Biden has stood against repugnant, Antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days. President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.
Continue reading...Images on TV show police on campus in New York after students take over Hamilton Hall building amid continuing protests
New York City police entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening in a reported effort to disperse the students who took over an academic building – and are facing expulsion – earlier in the day and those who have been encamped on school property for two weeks as tensions surrounding the pro-Palestinian demonstration escalated.
TV images showed police entering the elite university in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the US.
Continue reading...Talks aimed at having encampment removed voluntarily break down as president insists school won’t bow to divestment demands
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University have been given an ultimatum to abandon their encampment or risk suspension, after the breakdown of talks aimed at having it removed voluntarily.
The ultimatum, setting a Monday deadline of 2pm, came after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, announced that efforts to reach a compromise with protest organisers had failed. She insisted that the institution would not bow to demands to divest from Israel.
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