College protests updates: Police crackdown leads to hundreds of arrests
Hundreds were arrested at USC, Emerson and UT Austin in the last day.
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:
- Arizona State University arrests 69 people, clears pro-Palestinian encampment
- Northeastern University detains 100 protesters, removes encampment
- NYU students set up new encampment days after over 130 students, faculty arrested
- Students arrested, charged with trespass at Ohio State University
- DPS says they used a Taser, pepper balls at Emory, but not tear gas
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 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."
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
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visits Columbia University protesters
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., visited student protesters at Columbia University Friday.
Hundreds of counterprotesters also gathered near Columbia's campus on Friday morning waving Israeli flags and calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez has criticized the university's decision to arrest students.
"Not only did Columbia make the horrific decision to mobilize NYPD on their own students, but the units called in have some of the most violent reputations on the force. NYPD had promised the city they wouldn’t deploy SRG to protests. So why are these counterterror units here?" Ocasio-Cortez said on X Wednesday.
In another post, she called the arrests a "dangerous" act.
"Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act. It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Ocasio-Cortez said on X.