College protests live update: Biden condemns violence, arrests top 2,000
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Arrests at pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses top 2,000
By CHRISTOPHER KELLER
The number of people arrested in connection with U.S. college campus protests of the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Student protests have popped up at many college and university campuses over the last two weeks, sometimes leading to agreements between administrators and protestors but more frequently leading to arrests.
Police advance on pro-Palestinian demonstrators inside an encampment on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The Associated Press has tallied at least 46 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests. The arrests have occurred at 36 schools, including more than 200 arrests at UCLA.
University of Minnesota reopens after agreement with protesters
By STEVE KARNOWSKI, TRISHA AHMED
The University of Minnesota has reopened after administrators said they reached an agreement with protesters to end the encampment set up in the heart of the Minneapolis campus.
Interim President Jeff Ettinger said in an email Thursday morning that university buildings, closed as a precaution earlier this week, would reopen at noon.
Ettinger said the protesters agreed not to disrupt final exams or commencement ceremonies, and that representatives of the student organizations involved in the protests would get to address the university’s Board of Regents at a meeting next week. The May 10 discussion is expected to include the protesters’ demands that the university divest its investments in Israel.
The agreement “grew out of a desire among those involved to reach shared understanding,” Ettinger said.
Arrests on campuses in Stony Brook, N.Y., and Dallas
By MICHAEL HILL, ACACIA CORONADO, CHRISTOPHER KELLER
At least 1,945 people have been arrested at campus protests across the U.S. since April 18, including 10 arrests made at the University of South Florida on Tuesday after police deployed tear gas.
In New York, Stony Brook University officials said 29 people were arrested early Thursday morning, including students, faculty members and others not affiliated with the school. School administrators said the protests began peacefully but escalated to include intimidation, harassment and an encampment.
Seventeen people were arrested on criminal trespass charges Wednesday at the University of Texas at Dallas after demonstrators refused to comply with orders from law enforcement to take down an encampment built on the school’s main walkway, a university spokeswoman said in a statement Thursday.
Florida state universities look to prevent disruption of graduation
Florida’s state university chancellor has ordered campus presidents to take whatever steps necessary to prevent disruption of graduation ceremonies by protestors.
The order covers the University of Florida, Florida State University, Central Florida University, Florida A&M University and eight others.
“We must protect the integrity of our commencement ceremonies and ensure the safety of our students,” Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote in a memo to presidents this week.
“While we respect and honor the First Amendment, a commencement ceremony is not the time nor place to hold a political protest,” Rodrigues wrote.
At least 1,750 people have been arrested at campus protests across the U.S. since April 18, including 10 arrests made at the University of South Florida on Tuesday after police deployed tear gas.
VIDEO: Arrests at Dartmouth
Police arrest dozens of people on May 1 at a demonstration at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Demonstration at Air Force base in New Mexico
By SUSANA MONTOYA BRYAN
The Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico was also the site of a demonstration Thursday morning, with about two dozen protesters sitting in a roadway to block access to one of the main gates of the base.
The group waved flags and vowed to “shut everything down” in protest of the ongoing war in Gaza, and base officials advised people to take other routes to and from the base.
Base spokesman Rob Smith said Kirtland supports citizens’ rights to peacefully assemble, and said security officials would monitor the situation.
Many of the protests against the Israel-Hamas war have been held on college campuses throughout the U.S.
Police arrested 16 people at the University of New Mexico earlier this week after the protesters occupied the school’s student union building. The school is just a few miles way from Kirtland Air Force Base.
At least 132 people arrested at UCLA
At least 132 people were arrested at UCLA Thursday morning, says Sgt. Alejandro Rubio, a spokesperson for the CHP Southern Division.
“It could be more but that’s the latest I have,” Rubio told The Associated Press.
Rubio said the arrestees were being taken for booking at the inmate reception center at the county jails complex near downtown Los Angeles.
He said the UCLA police force was the lead agency and would recommend which charges should be brought against those arrested.
A crowd of more than 1,000 people had gathered on campus, both inside and outside of the encampment, and officers had spent hours threatening arrests over loudspeakers if people did not disperse.
After the arrests, workers entered the encampment site and began cleaning up, hauling away sheets of plywood that were used to build a barricade and sweeping trash from graffiti-scarred steps.
President Biden addresses the protests
President Biden delivers live remarks from the White House on pro-Palestinian protests occurring across various U.S. college campuses.
President Joe Biden defended the right to peacefully protest on college campuses but said vandalism, violence, hate speech and other “chaos” has no part in a peaceful protest.
“Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House Thursday morning. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up at many college campuses following the arrest of demonstrators in April at Columbia University.
The Democratic president said the U.S. is neither an authoritarian nation and that squashes dissent nor a lawless country.
“We are a civil society and order must prevail,” Biden said. “We are a big, diverse, free-thinking and freedom-loving nation.”
Tensions at colleges and universities have been building, with demonstrators refusing to remove encampments, administrators cancelling classes and events and police clearing some protests by force.
The Associated Press has tallied at least 41 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. Nearly 1,750 people have been arrested at 32 schools.
Columbia professors group condemns university leadership
The Columbia University chapter of the American Association of University Professors is condemning the school’s leadership for asking the New York Police Department to remove student protesters this week.
The union group issued a statement Thursday morning calling for a vote of “no confidence” in the university administration, saying the decision to summon police was made without consultation of the University Senate and in violation of the university’s
established procedures.
“These offenses culminated in the horrific police attack on our students that is now shamefully on view for the whole world to see,” the AAUP chapter wrote. “Faculty, staff, and students were locked out of our campus even prior to the police raid and remain locked out as of this writing: from their offices, labs and libraries for the first time in Columbia history.”
Police carrying riot shields stormed a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters late Tuesday, arresting dozens of people. Similar police actions have occurred at college protests across the U.S. over the last two weeks.
Student journalists are covering their own campuses in convulsion
Staff members of the Columbia Daily Spectator, the college newspaper, work into the night as police cleared out demonstrators from Columbia University’s campus, late Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. Left to right; Isabella Ramirez, editor in chief; Esha Karam, managing editor; Yvin Shin, head copy editor; Emily Forgash, deputy news editor; and Shea Vance, university news editor. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
The Pulitzer Prize Board has released a statement commending the student journalists who are working around the clock to cover the protests on their own college campuses.
The board, which issues annual awards for outstanding achievement in journalism and the arts, said the student journalists were tirelessly covering the unrest “in the face of great personal and academic risk.”
The statement specifically recognized “the extraordinary real-time reporting” of student journalists at Columbia University, where the Pulitzer Prizes are housed and where the nationwide campus demonstrations began on April 17.
The New York Police Department officers began arresting protesters at Columbia Tuesday evening, and one student journalist reported being ordered into a dormitory by police along with other reporters and being threatened with arrest if he tried to leave.
“In the spirit of press freedom, these students worked to document a major national news event under difficult and dangerous circumstances at risk of arrest,” the board wrote.
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This post has been updated to correct that arrests began Tuesday evening.
Yale police make arrests
Yale police arrested four people Wednesday night after around 200 demonstrators had marched to the school president’s home and to the campus police department, Yale officials said.
School officials said in a statement Thursday that protesters ignored repeated warnings that they were violating university policy on occupying parts of campus without permission. Two of those arrested were students, and the others were not, Yale said.
Wednesday night’s protest at Yale came a day after a U.S. House of Representatives committee announced that the presidents of Yale, UCLA and Michigan will appear before the panel on May 23 to answer questions about campus protests.
The protest group Occupy Yale said campus police were violent during the arrests and did not issue warnings beforehand. The group posted a video in Instagram showing officers bringing one arrestee to the ground and pinning another on a sidewalk.
Arrests across the country
The Associated Press has tallied at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.
The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Police move in and begin dismantling pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ encampment at UCLA
Police advance on pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the UCLA campus Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Police removed barricades and began dismantling pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave.
The action came after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loudspeakers if people did not disperse. A crowd of more than 1,000 had gathered on campus, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside it, in support. Protesters and police scuffled and some people were detained, their hands bound with zip ties.
Protesters chanted, “Where were you last night?” at the officers, in reference to Tuesday night, when counterprotesters attacked the encampment and the UCLA administration and campus police took hours to respond.
Police dismantle encampment at Dartmouth
An encampment at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire was dismantled by police late Wednesday, just hours after pro-Palestinian demonstrators put up a handful of tents. Officers arrested multiple people, including at least one professor, according to local media reports.
Police move onto campus at Portland State University as protesters continue to occupy library
Portland State University officials in Oregon said police had moved onto campus Wednesday evening as protesters continued to occupy a library on campus.
The university posted an alert on social platform X saying: “POLICE ACTIVITY at SOUTH PARK BLOCKS,” which is where the campus is located. The post also said people should avoid the campus area. No further information was immediately released.
University President Ann Cudd said in a written statement Wednesday before police arrived on campus that the university would open for classes on Thursday.
““it is critically important to return to the university’s mission of educating our students,” Cudd’s statement said.
The Portland Police Bureau said earlier Wednesday that it had been part of a team trying to resolve the situation but that protesters in the library had not responded to their efforts to communicate.
Police tell UCLA protesters to disperse or face arrest
Tents are placed on an encampment on the UCLA campus, the morning after clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Announcements broadcasted on the University of California Los Angeles campus Wednesday evening told demonstrators to disperse or they would be arrested and face a misdemeanor charge. The protesters largely stayed in place, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans.
UCLA posted on X that campus operations will be limited Thursday and Friday with all classes required to pivot to remote instruction. The post urged people to continue avoiding campus and the Royce Quad area.
Hundreds supporting Pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA as police presence grows
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