Gaza protest students arrested at campuses across US as Palestine flag flies at Harvard
Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters at colleges across the US have been arrested amid clashes with police.
Protests have erupted on US university campuses in recent weeks, with pro-Palestinian students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to college ties with companies supplying weapons to Israel.
About 275 people were arrested on Saturday on various campuses, including Indiana University at Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St Louis. The number of arrests nationwide has approached 900 so far.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, members of a pro-Palestine encampment were involved in a confrontation with pro-Israel demonstrators on Sunday, with the groups breaking through a barrier which had been erected between them. No arrests were made but Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, described the scenes as “heartbreaking”.
At Harvard, Boston, a Palestine flag was hoisted over a statue of founder John Harvard in place of the US flag. Other images show it draped over Harvard’s lap, with a keffiyeh around his neck. Staff removing the flag were met with cries of “shame” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Jonathan L Swain, a Harvard spokesman, said the act was “a violation of university policy and the individuals involved will be subject to disciplinary action”.
Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, called for the National Guard to be deployed to quell unrest during a visit to New York’s Columbia University on Wednesday. Demonstrators have been camped outside there since April 17 when Minouche Shafik, the university’s president, testified in front of a House committee following a surge in anti-Semitism on campus.
More than 100 people were arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass the following day.
Elsewhere, police fired pepper balls into crowds at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, with 28, including several professors, arrested. At Boston’s Emerson College, 108 people were arrested and four officers injured on Thursday. While at the University of Texas, Austin, on Wednesday, more than 100 officers, some on horseback, moved in to dispel a crowd.
There have been dozens more arrests at New York and Yale universities.
At institutions across the US tensions have been simmering since October 7, with colleges struggling to balance free speech and student safety in the face of rising incidents of anti-Semitic abuse. Some have used public-space rules to bring demonstrations under control, while others have threatened suspension or expulsion.
