College protests updates: Police crackdown leads to hundreds of arrests

Brown University students began an encampment on campus Wednesday, with a student group warning other students that the university is threatening to crack down on protesters.

"Brown admin is using unprecedented repressive tactics to prevent peaceful student protest. They are doing random ID sweeps to identify people and threatening disciplinary action," the Brown Divest Coalition said in a statement on Instagram.

Students participating in the encampment "have been informed they will face conduct proceedings," Brown said in a statement to ABC News, because the encampment on the university's "greens" is a violation of policies. Brown added it has supported previous protests and activism on campus, including a hunger strike, that were "within the bounds of our policies."

"Protest is an acceptable means of expression at Brown, but it becomes unacceptable when it violates University policies that are intended to ensure the safety and security of members of the Brown community and that there is no interference in the rights of others to engage in the regular operations of the university. Early on Wednesday and periodically since, the University asked all participants in the encampment to present their Brown IDs to verify association with Brown for safety and security reasons and to appropriately address violations of policy," Brown said in a statement to ABC News.

"University administrators and the Department of Public Safety will continually monitor the situation and act as necessary. We have been troubled by reports of violence, harassment and intimidation at some encampments on other campuses, but we have not seen that kind of behavior at Brown. Any such behavior would not be tolerated," Brown said.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab

Videos show several people being detained by police at Emory University in Atlanta on Thursday.

Student groups say they launched an encampment for Gaza at 7:30 a.m., demanding a "total divestment from Israeli apartheid and cop city," in a post on Instagram. The group said the encampment is "open to everyone."

The Emory Police Department contacted Atlanta police and Georgia State Patrol for assistance, according to Emory.

"Several dozen protesters trespassed into Emory University’s campus early Thursday morning and set up tents on the Quad. These individuals are not members of our community. They are activists attempting to disrupt our university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals," Emory University said in a statement to ABC News.

"Emory does not tolerate vandalism or other criminal activity on campus," Emory said.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab and Kerem Inal

Students at Northwestern University began setting up an encampment on campus grounds Thursday morning, joining the growing list of students across the country demanding their schools divest from Israel and companies that support its campaign on Gaza.

Northwestern says setting up a tent encampment is "prohibited" under university policies and campus police are at the encampment, working to have the tents removed.

"Students who refuse to remove their tents will be subject to arrest and their tents will be removed by the University. Community members who do not adhere to University policies will face discipline," Northwestern University told ABC News in a statement.

"Northwestern is committed to the principles of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly – and to protecting the safety of all members of our community, as well as limiting disruptions to University operations," Northwestern said.

The Northwestern University Divestment Coalition, a student group, says protesters are refusing to leave their encampment.

Videos and posts posted by other student groups on Instagram show police responding to the scene, warning students that they will begin issuing citations and arrests if they do not leave.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab

Princeton University students began a Gaza solidarity encampment on Thursday, demanding the university divest from Israel and that Israel end its campaign on Gaza.

The students are also calling for an academic boycott of Israel and Israeli universities -- including ending study abroad programs with Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, students said in a statement.

"Princeton students stand in solidarity with Columbia University's Gaza Solidarity Encampment, launched on April 17. They strongly condemn the decisions of Columbia University, Yale University, New York University, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and Cal Poly Humboldt's administrations to employ militarized police against their own students and demand the immediate release of all arrested students, the immediate dropping of all charges, and the immediate revocation of suspensions and evictions," students said in a statement.

"Despite the systematic repression of pro-Palestinian voices, students will continue to stand their ground," students said.