The wave of student demonstrations has been spreading across the United States since last week. Students from renowned institutions such as Columbia, New York, and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) are calling on universities to cut all types of relations and business with the Israeli government in retaliation for the attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of students from different public and private universities in the country were arrested for participating in these protests. On Tuesday night (30), the New York police entered Hamilton Hall, a Columbia building marked by great symbolic value for protests against the Vietnam War in 1968, which had been occupied by students. According to CNNmore than 200 protesters were arrested in Columbia and City College of New York, another protest site.
Police actions also took place at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas, where student camps and demonstrations also took place.
Columbia is considered the epicenter of university protests in the United States against the war in the Gaza Strip. New York Mayor Eric Adams stated that the occupation of Hamilton Hall “was led by individuals who are not enrolled at the university.”
“There were people on campus who shouldn’t have been there. We saw a change in the tactics that were being used… This was led by external agitators”, Adams pointed out. This Wednesday, the mayor estimated at 282 the total number of people arrested in the pro-Palestine university protests in the city during this Tuesday’s actions (30 ).
“Right now we have 282 detainees: 173 are from CUNY (the city’s public university) and 109 from Columbia,” Adams said in a joint press conference with Edward Cabán, commissioner of the New York Police Department. The mayor did not provide data on arrests of individuals from off-campus following the evacuation operation.
Politicians from both main US parties condemned the protests and Joe Biden’s government classified some of the students’ slogans and several of their strategies, such as the occupation of university buildings, as “anti-Semitic and violent”.
University of Wisconsin
At least 34 students from the University of Wisconsin, in the north of the United States, were detained this Wednesday during a clash with police. Local police entered the university campus at around 7am (local time, 9am Brasília) to clear the camp that students had set up in one of the institution’s parks, according to local press.
In videos published on the social network X, it is possible to see how the students confronted the agents, who were carrying riot shields. At times, police officers knocked down several students and teachers during the confrontation. Although the university warned that it was prohibited to set up camps on campus, hundreds of students decided to gather since Monday (29) in one of the main points of the educational center.
UCLA
Police units were mobilized this Wednesday (1st) on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) following last night’s violent clashes between groups of pro-Israel protesters and those demanding an end to the war in the Gaza Strip. The police stated that they had to be mobilized “due to multiple acts of violence within the large camp (set up by pro-Palestinian protesters) on their campus.”
The intervention took place after groups of pro-Israel protesters dressed in black and wearing white masks confronted students staying at the camp. The clashes erupted hours after the university announced that the protest “is illegal and violates university policy” and warned that students who did not leave could be suspended or expelled, the newspaper reported. Los Angeles Times.
University of Texas
This Monday (29), 40 students were arrested at the University of Texas, in Austin. State police troops and security officials at the institution – equipped with riot gear – arrested members of an occupation taking place inside the institution in protest against Israel.
They did not want to voluntarily leave the space and tried to resist detention. Some were throwing themselves on the ground to avoid being taken away. In a statement, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, from the Republican Party, stated that “camps will not be allowed” in educational institutions.
Trump praises police performance in Columbia
The former president of the United States and pre-candidate for the Republican Party, Donald Trump, praised the action of the New York police who demobilized a camp of pro-Gaza protesters at Columbia University. “The police arrived, and within two hours everything was resolved. It was beautiful to see,” said the Republican, to applause from supporters.
During a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the politician said that “New York was being attacked” by students who denounced the US policy of supporting Israel in the war against the Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He accused Columbia University President Nemat Shafik of being “very weak” and “waiting too long” to act, but in the end, he said, the police “did an incredible job” in entering the building that had been occupied by several students.