Police arrested at least 25 pro-Palestinian protesters and cleared an encampment at the University of Virginia (UVA), as campuses across the United States brace for more unrest during graduation ceremonies.
Tensions flared on UVA’s Charlottesville campus, where protests had been largely peaceful until Saturday morning, when police in riot gear were seen in video moving onto an encampment on the lawn of the campus, handcuffing some protesters with zip ties and using what appeared to be chemical spray.
Across the United States, students gathered or set up tents at dozens of universities to protest the months-long war in Gaza and call on President Joe Biden, who has supported Israel, to do more to put an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.
They are also demanding that their schools divest from companies that support the Israeli government, such as arms suppliers.
UVA said in a statement that protesters violated several university policies, including setting up tents Friday night and using amplified sound.
UVA President Jim Ryan wrote in a message that officials had learned that “individuals unaffiliated with the university” who presented “safety concerns” had joined the protesters on campus.
It was not immediately clear how many of those arrested were UVA students.
In an Instagram post, a group called UVA Encampment for Gaza, which said earlier this week it had set up the encampment, condemned the university’s decision to call the police.
Meanwhile, dozens of people were arrested for “criminal trespassing” outside the Art Institute of Chicago during a protest Saturday after the institute called police to evict protesters they said were illegally occupying its premises. property, Chicago police said on
Elsewhere, the clashes did not degenerate into arrests. In Ann Arbor, pro-Palestinian protesters briefly disrupted a commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan, one of several universities that have changed their security protocols for graduation ceremonies.
Videos shared on social media showed dozens of students wearing traditional keffiyehs and graduation caps, and waving Palestinian flags as they marched down the aisle of Michigan Stadium, to cheers and boos from a crowd of thousands.
The ceremony continued and campus police escorted protesters to the rear of the stadium, but no arrests were made, according to Colleen Mastony, a university spokeswoman.
“Peaceful protests like this have occurred at UM (University of Michigan) commencement ceremonies for decades,” Mastony said in a statement. “The university supports freedom of speech and expression, and university leaders are pleased that today’s commencement was a moment of pride and triumph.” »
One of the most common slogans heard by protesters at the University of Michigan was: “Disclose, divest.” We will not stop, we will not rest,” said Tel Aviv Tribune reporter John Hendren in Ann Arbor.
“According to the professors and students we spoke with, they say they have not received any satisfactory response regarding student engagement in their requests. The university has not agreed to disclose its investments in Israel,” he said.
Contrasting views of Israel’s war in Gaza have erupted, sometimes violently, on American campuses over the past two weeks. Many schools, including Columbia University in New York, called police to quell the protests.
Police have so far arrested more than 2,000 protesters at colleges across the country.
The anti-war protests in the United States are being held in response to the Israeli offensive in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October and the Palestinian enclave has been razed in what experts human rights have described as genocide.
The attacks began after the Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in Israel on October 7, during which, according to Israeli authorities, nearly 1,200 people were killed.
Outrage over Ole Miss incident
The campus protests have emerged as a new political flashpoint during a hotly contested and deeply divisive U.S. election year.
A pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, on Thursday was met by a larger crowd of counter-protesters singing the national anthem and waving American flags.
The events at Ole Miss, the state’s flagship university, sparked widespread outrage and condemnation after a viral video showed a group of mostly white students mocking a black female protester.
Some shouted racist remarks and one individual can be heard making what sounded like monkey noises towards the black student.
While the university’s chancellor condemned the incident’s “racist overtones” and said an investigation was underway, Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia shared the video on his X account Friday, writing: “Ole Miss takes care of business.”
A spokesperson for Collins said he was citing examples of “ordinary students… who stand up to the very small group of left-wing agitators who only care about disrupting and destroying.”
But the mockery sparked strong criticism on and off campus.
“The students were demanding an end to the genocide. They faced racism,” wrote James M Thomas, a sociology professor at the University of Mississippi, on X.