Anti-war protesters gather on US campuses as universities and police take action

Students protesting the war between Israel and Hamas woke up Sunday morning in tents on college campuses across the country, preparing for more demonstrations demanding that schools cut financial ties with Israel and divest from companies accused of having favored the conflict.

WATCH: How University Protests Against the Gaza War Compare to Past Protests

Decisions to call in law enforcement, which led to hundreds of arrests nationwide, also drew backlash from protesters. The tensions have increased pressure on school officials, who are scrambling to resolve protests as May graduation ceremonies approach.

Faculty members at universities in California, Georgia and Texas have initiated or passed votes of no confidence in their leaders. These are largely symbolic reprimands, without being able to impeach their presidents.

How it started

Early protests at Columbia University in New York sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country and students and administrators began negotiations, the university said in a statement Saturday evening.

READ MORE: Colombia protesters say they're at an impasse with administrators and will continue their anti-war camp

Columbia set a series of deadlines for protesters to leave the encampment, deadlines they failed to meet, but bringing police back at that time would be counterproductive, the school wrote in an email to students.

Missouri

Washington University in St. Louis locked down some campus buildings and arrested protesters Saturday.

The Riverfront Times, a St. Louis weekly, reported that more than 80 people were arrested during the protest that began in public places before moving to campus in the afternoon. Megan Green, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, said in a social media post that she was present and the protest remained calm until police arrived as an ambush.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein said in a social media post that she and two of her campaign managers were among those arrested on the University of Washington campus.

The St. Louis Police Department said in a social media post that it had assisted campus police, although city officers made no arrests.

California

The University of Southern California said Saturday that it had temporarily closed its University Park campus to nonresidents and that USC property had been vandalized by members of a group that continued to illegally camp on our campus, disrupting operations and harassing people.

Students have refused attempts to meet with University President Carol Folt, and the administration is hoping for a more reasonable response Sunday before we are forced to take further action, said Joel Curran, senior vice president of communications.

USC drew criticism after refusing to allow the valedictorian, who has publicly supported the Palestinian cause, to deliver a commencement speech. Administrators then abandoned filmmaker Jon M. Chu's keynote address. The school announced the cancellation of its main graduation ceremony Thursday, a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested by police in riot gear.

Folt, the university president, made her first public statement Friday evening, calling the controversies incredibly difficult for all of us.

Massachusetts

In Boston, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University on Saturday.

Massachusetts State Police said about 102 protesters were arrested and will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Northeastern said in a statement that the protest, which began two days ago, was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation with the university and that anti-Semitic slurs, including killing Jews, were used.

We cannot tolerate this kind of hatred on our campus, said the statement posted on social media.

WATCH: Colleges struggle to allow protests and prevent anti-Semitism and bullying

The student group Huskies for a Free Palestine disputed the university's version, saying in a statement that counterprotesters were responsible for the slurs and that no student protesters repeated the disgusting hate speech.

Students at the Boston protest said a counterprotester tried to incite hate speech, but insisted their event was peaceful and like many others across the country , it aimed to draw attention to what they described as the genocide in Gaza and the complicity of their universities in the war.

The president of the nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a statement Saturday that an encampment there had become a potential magnet for disruptive outdoor protesters and that it required hundreds of staff hours to ensure its security.

Indiana

Indiana University campus officers and state police arrested 23 people Saturday at an encampment on the school's campus in Bloomington. Tents and canopies were erected Friday in violation of school policy and members of the group were arrested after refusing to remove the structures on charges ranging from criminal trespass to resisting law enforcement. order, police said.

Arizona State University said 69 people were arrested Saturday morning on suspicion of criminal trespass for setting up an unauthorized encampment on a lawn at its Tempe campus. Protesters were given the opportunity to leave and those who refused were arrested.

American campuses and the war between Israel and Hamas

Nationwide campus protests began in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Hamas launched a deadly attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages. Promising to eradicate Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza. In the ensuing war, Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry.

READ MORE: Tens of thousands have joined pro-Palestinian protests across the United States. Experts say they're growing

Israel and its supporters have called the university protests anti-Semitic, while Israel's critics say it uses such allegations to silence its opponents. Although some demonstrators have been filmed making anti-Semitic remarks or violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protest against the war.

Casey reported from Boston and Thompson from Buffalo, NY. Associated Press journalists from various locations contributed, including Jacques Billeaud, 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 Tareen.

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