College protests updates: Police crackdown leads to hundreds of arrests

Hundreds were arrested at USC, Emerson and UT Austin in the last day.

ByABC NEWS
Last Updated: April 28, 2024, 10:09 AM EDT

Protests have broken out at colleges and universities across the country in connection with the war in Gaza.

Many pro-Palestinian protesters are calling for their colleges to divest of funds from Israeli military operations, while some Jewish students on the campuses have called the protests antisemitic and said they are scared for their safety.

The student protests -- some of which have turned into around-the-clock encampments -- have erupted throughout the nation following arrests and student removals at Columbia University in New York City. Students at schools including Yale University, New York University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California and more have launched protests.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Apr 24, 2024, 4:21 PM EDT

USC pro-Palestinian rally turns chaotic after police confront protesters: KABC

A rally by pro-Palestinian protesters at USC became chaotic after campus police confronted people who tried to set up an encampment at the school's Alumni Park, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC. The university's commencement ceremony is scheduled to occur in Alumni Park on May 10.

PHOTO: USC Safety officers try to disperse students who protest in support of Palestinians, at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park, in Los Angeles, on April 24, 2024.
USC Safety officers try to disperse students who protest in support of Palestinians, at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Los Angeles, on April 24, 2024.
Zaydee Sanchez/Reuters

Last week, USC canceled the valedictorian's speech out of safety concerns considering her pro-Palestinian views, sparking backlash. The student, Asna Tabassum, is a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim who majored in biomedical engineering and minored in resistance to genocide, according to a statement published through the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Dozens of students and others have issued a list of demands, including the university's divestment, similar to demands from students on other campuses, according to KABC.

Students build a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Los Angeles, on April 24, 2024.
Zaydee Sanchez/Reuters

USC police officers began attempting to clear the encampment of tents and signs before Los Angeles Police Department officers joined the effort, according to KABC

Apr 24, 2024, 3:57 PM EDT

Harvard University students begin encampment in Harvard Yard

Pro-Palestinian students at Harvard University began an encampment in Harvard Yard on Wednesday, despite the university closing it through Friday.

The encampment comes after Harvard suspended the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee -- an on-campus group that has been under a spotlight -- amid debates on campuses over the war. The ACLU of Massachusetts, which represents the group, has called for the university to lift the suspension.

PHOTO: A sign is seen on a a gate to Harvard University to prevent encampments from being set up on their property in Cambridge, Mass., on April 22, 2024.
A sign is seen on a a gate to Harvard University to prevent encampments from being set up on their property in Cambridge, Mass., on April 22, 2024, as protests against Israel's retaliatory attack against Hamas in Gaza grow on U.S. university campuses.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Students and student workers released a statement Wednesday announcing their encampment, calling for the university to divest and accusing it of "relentlessly suppress[ing] voices in its community speaking out against the actions of the Israeli state and for the rights of the Palestinian people," the suspended group said in a statement on Instagram.

The group is also demanding that the university "drop all its charges against students for their organizing and activism, and commit to ending the weaponization of disciplinary policy," the statement said.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab

Apr 24, 2024, 3:45 PM EDT

Troopers call for protesters to disperse at UT Austin

Students at the University of Texas at Austin began protesting on campus calling for a divestment, resembling encampments set up at Columbia and Yale University. A similar encampment was set up at New York University before police arrested over 130 students and faculty Monday.

Texas Troopers call for protesters to disperse at UT Austin, on April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas.
KVUE

Texas State Troopers were seen marching through campus calling for protesters to disperse.

"Early on Monday, we learned of a plan for a large-scale anti-Israel protest on our UT campus during Passover," Texas Hillel, the center for Jewish Life on campus, said in a statement on Instagram. "The timing of this protest is not lost on us - making use of a Jewish holiday and observance to promote a hateful agenda - and we quickly contacted our university and security partners to begin coordinating a response plan to keep our campus and our students safe."

Austin's Palestine Solidarity Committee wrote on Instagram that "students were welcomed by a draconian police presence, refusing to allow them to use their campus space for political speech."

Texas Troopers call for protesters to disperse at UT Austin, on April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas.
KVUE

Texas Troopers call for protesters to disperse at UT Austin, on April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas.
KVUE

The Austin Police Department told ABC News its role is only in assisting the UT Police Department, the main agency responding to the campus events. Austin police noted that the Texas Department of Public Safety is also assisting.

-ABC News' Olivia Osteen