NEW YORK –
As students protesting the war between Israel and Hamas on college campuses across the United States barricaded themselves Saturday and dozens of protesters were arrested, some universities moved to close camps after reports of anti-Semitic activity.
With the death toll rising in the war in Gaza, protesters across the country are demanding that schools cut their financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have descended into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Early Saturday, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston. Massachusetts State Police said about 102 protesters were arrested and will be charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Protesters said they were given about 15 minutes to disperse before being arrested.
As workers tore down tents and packed away camp debris, several dozen people in front of the camp chanted “Let the children go” and slogans against the war in Gaza. They also jeered as police cars passed and mocked the officers guarding the camp.
The school said in a statement that the demonstration, which began two days ago, had been “infiltrated by professional organizers” with no affiliation to the school and that anti-Semitic slurs had been used, including “killing Jews.”
“We cannot tolerate this type of hate on our campus,” the statement posted on social media platform X said.
The student group Huskies for a Free Palestine disputed the university’s account, saying in a statement that counterprotesters were to blame for the insults and that no student protesters “repeated the disgusting hate speech.”
Students at the protest said a counter-protester attempted to instigate hate speech, but insisted their event was peaceful and, like many across the country, aimed to draw attention to what they described as the “genocide” in Gaza. and the complicity of his university in the war.
The president of the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued a statement Saturday saying the camp had become a “potential magnet for disruptive outside protesters” and that keeping it safe required hundreds of hours of work.
“We have a responsibility to the entire MIT community, and it is not possible to sustain this level of effort safely,” said MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “We are open to further discussions on the means to end the camp. But this particular form of expression must end soon.”
Indiana University campus officers and state police arrested 23 people Saturday at an encampment on the school’s Bloomington campus. Tents and marquees were set up in Dunn Meadow on Friday night in violation of school policy, university police said in a statement. Members of the group were detained after refusing to remove the structures, police said. The charges ranged from trespassing to resisting law enforcement.
At the University of Pennsylvania on Friday, interim President J. Larry Jameson called for an encampment of protesters on Philadelphia’s West Campus to be dissolved, saying it violates the university’s facilities policies, although about 40 tents remained in place. the place on Saturday morning.
Some protesters’ “harassing and intimidating comments and actions” violate the school’s open expression guidelines as well as state and federal laws, Jameson said, and the vandalism of a statue with anti-Semitic graffiti was “especially reprehensible and will be investigated.” as a hate crime.” “
A group of professors said Saturday they were “deeply disturbed” by the university president’s email, saying it included “unsubstantiated accusations” that “we have been challenged by faculty and students who attended and observed the demonstration.”
The university’s American Association of University Professors chapter said Jameson’s statement “mischaracterizes the general nature of an anti-war protest that necessarily involves strong emotions on both sides but which, as far as we know, has not involved any violence.” actual or threats of violence to individuals in our country. facilities.”
The protests at universities began after Hamas’ deadly attack in southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took approximately 250 hostages. During the war that followed, Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry.
Israel and its supporters have called the protests anti-Semitic, while critics of Israel say it uses such accusations to silence its opponents. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war. .
At Columbia University, where protesters have inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, students representing the camp said Friday that they had reached a stalemate with administrators and intended to continue their protest.
Although the university has repeatedly set and then pushed back deadlines for removing the camp, the school sent an email to students Friday night saying that bringing back police “at this time” would be counterproductive.
The decisions to turn to the authorities, which led to hundreds of arrests across the country, have led professors at universities in California, Georgia and Texas to initiate or approve votes of no confidence in their leaders. They are largely symbolic reprimands, with no power to remove their presidents.
But the tensions increase pressure on school officials, who are already struggling to resolve protests as May graduation ceremonies approach.
The University of Southern California drew criticism after refusing to allow its valedictorian, who has publicly supported Palestinians, to deliver a commencement speech. Administrators then scrapped filmmaker Jon M. Chu’s keynote speech. The school announced the cancellation of its main graduation event on Thursday, a day after police in riot gear arrested more than 90 protesters.
USC President Carol Folt made her first public statement Friday night, addressing the controversies as “incredibly difficult for all of us.”
“No one wants people arrested on their campus. Ever. But when long-standing security policies are flagrantly violated, buildings are vandalized, Department of Public Safety directives are repeatedly ignored, threatening language is yelled, people are assaulted and access to critical academic buildings is blocked, we must act immediately to protect our community,” Folt said.
Arizona State University said 69 people were arrested early Saturday on suspicion of criminal trespass for setting up an unauthorized camp on a lawn on its Tempe campus. Protesters were given the opportunity to leave and those who refused were arrested.
“While the university will continue to be an environment that embraces freedom of expression, ASU’s first priority is to create a safe environment that supports teaching and learning,” the university said in a statement.
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists at various locations contributed, including Aaron Morrison, Stefanie Dazio, Kathy McCormack, Jim Vertuno, Acacia Coronado, Sudhin Thanawala, Jeff Amy, Jeff Martin, Mike Stewart, Collin Binkley, Carolyn Thompson, Jake Offenhartz, Jesse Bedayn and Sophia Task. .