More than 200 protesters were arrested Saturday at Northeastern University, Arizona State University, Indiana University and Washington University in St. Louis, according to officials, as colleges across the country struggle to quell growing pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on campus.
There have been more than 800 arrests of protesters on US campuses since April 18, when Columbia University asked the New York Police Department to clear a protest encampment there. In several cases, most of those arrested were released.
At Washington University in St. Louis, 100 arrests were made and the campus was locked down Saturday afternoon, the university said in a statement. Jill Stein, the Green Party's 2024 presidential candidate, was among those arrested, along with her campaign manager and another staff member, a campaign spokesman said.
Earlier in the day, at Northeastern in Boston, protesters had set up an encampment on the campus's Centennial Common this week that drew more than 100 supporters. The administration had asked the protesters to leave, but many students did not.
Around dawn Saturday, Massachusetts State Police arrived at the encampment and began arresting protesters, handcuffing them with zip ties and taking down several tents. They said they arrested 102 protesters. It was unclear how many of those arrested were students, but the university said students who showed their IDs were released.
A spokeswoman for the North East Party, Renata Newell, said the demonstration had been “infiltrated by professional organizers” and that “the use of aggressive anti-Semitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews', crossed the line”.
The protesters denied both allegations and a the video appeared that he was a pro-Israel counter-protester who used the phrase, as part of his criticism of the voices of pro-Palestinian protesters. In response to that video, Ms Nyul stood by her initial comments, adding that “any suggestion that vile, anti-Semitic comments are sometimes acceptable in context is reprehensible.”
After the protesters were removed from the camp by police and then handcuffed and taken to a nearby building, they moved to block a nearby alley where police vehicles were parked. They cheered in support when one of the arrested protesters — wearing a Northeastern sweatshirt — waved through the building's windows with his hands bound in zip ties.
Alina Caudle, a sophomore at Northeastern University, echoed the protesters' demands that he disclose his investments and divest from companies the protesters see as supporting Israel's war on Gaza.
“We want them to allocate our tuition money,” Ms Caudle said. “Our administration is not listening to us.”
Ms. Caudle said she believed the vast majority of students at the camp were Northeastern students, along with a large number of Jewish students and faculty who supported the protest.
By 11am on Saturday, most of the camp had been cleared. A moving company had been brought in to load the tents, snacks and other items that were scattered around the site.
The mass arrest at Northeastern was the second early morning crackdown on protesters on a Boston campus in less than a week. Early Thursday morning, Boston police arrested 118 people at Emerson College after protesters refused to move and formed a roadblock.
More than 2,500 miles away, at Arizona State University, school police arrested 69 people early Saturday morning after setting up an unauthorized encampment in violation of university policy, school officials said.
The school said the protesters had set up camp and that the group was told multiple times to disperse.
“While the university will continue to be an environment that embraces free speech, ASU's first priority is to create a safe and secure environment that supports teaching and learning,” school officials said in a statement.
Three people were also arrested at the school in connection with Friday's demonstration, officials said he said.
At Bloomington University in Indiana, where university police arrested 33 people at an encampment earlier this week, campus and state police arrested 23 more protesters Saturday. Officials said a group had “erected numerous tents and canopies on Friday night with the stated intention of occupying the university premises indefinitely”.
Schools across the country used different strategies last week to contain the protests. Some retreated and tried to de-escalate tensions, while at other colleges, such as the University of Southern California and Emory University, police rushed to break up encampments and arrest students and faculty members, among others.
At some protests, there were some reports of injuries, but in many cases, the arrests were peaceful and protesters often surrendered willingly when officers entered.
On Saturday, there appeared to be an increased police presence on several campuses, although not all resulted in arrests. At the University of Pennsylvania, more than a dozen campus police officers were stationed along the barricades, with more than 100 encamped protesters and about a dozen pro-Israel counter-protesters on campus.
Across the country, at Cal State University in Humboldt, officers were stationed throughout the now-shuttered campus after protesters occupied two buildings earlier this week. About three dozen protesters were inside a camp.
Beyond arrests, schools use other measures to apply pressure. At Harvard, access to Harvard's historic courtyard was restricted, allowing only those who showed a university ID. The university also suspended a pro-Palestinian group, but the group and its supporters set up an encampment in the courtyard.
On Saturday, Harvard's dean of students sent an email to the student body warning that anyone participating in the camp faces discipline. But there was no sign of an imminent police operation.
At Cornell University, the student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, reported Friday that four students associated with the pro-Palestinian camp on campus had been suspended from the school. Cornell officials confirmed the suspensions were issued, but declined to provide a number.
In a statement Saturday afternoon, the university's vice president for university relations, Joel M. Malina, said the school asked the protesters to move to an area “where the noise would not disrupt classes” and where people could easily avoid the camp. but said the offer was declined.
Mr. Malina also said the university was prepared to issue additional suspensions, “as well as referrals to human resources for the employees involved.”
Nick Wilson, a student who said he was among those suspended, told one opinion piece to The Cornell Daily Sun that he and others had been withdrawn from current classes and were not allowed on campus. Still, he wrote, the suspension “in a strange way” gave him hope. According to his reasoning, institutions like Cornell would not have suspended him and others “unless they were truly afraid that our movement might succeed.”
Halina Bennett, Andrew Spielmann, Jonathan Wolff and Joel Wolfram contributed to the report.
