As protests against the war in Gaza intensify on college campuses, police have launched a broad crackdown and arrested hundreds of demonstrators at numerous sites throughout the United States.
A BBC partner, CBS News, was notified by Boston police that 108 arrests had taken place at Emerson College. On suspicion of trespassing, ninety-three people from the University of Southern California (USC) were arrested earlier in the day in Los Angeles.
At the University of Texas in Austin, where there were altercations between demonstrators and law officials that resulted in 34 arrests, tensions also increased.
An increase in student walkouts and attempts to set up protest camps against Israel’s military war in Gaza has been observed at universities around the country.
The latest arrests come on top of those that have previously occurred at universities like Yale, Columbia, and New York University.
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Police at USC stepped in as students gathered in Alumni Park, the location of the school’s big graduation ceremony that takes place the next month. A pro-Palestinian camp was demolished by riot police in the centre of the campus, scattering protesters and issuing trespassing arrests.
The demonstration started out calmly but became more tense as long as police were present. Chanting “Let her go!” and “free Palestine,” demonstrators surrounded police officers who were trying to hold people. Certain students, wearing kaffiyehs and carrying placards that said “liberated zone,” began to drum.
Three policemen were hurt during the operation, according to Boston police, one of them gravely but not critically. The protesters were not hurt. The college, Emerson College, has not yet released a statement on the arrests, despite reports that students had been camped there since Sunday.
