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
House Speaker calls on Columbia president to resign if she can't control protests
During a visit to Columbia University, House Speaker Mike Johnson joined his New York House Republican colleagues in calling on the school's president, Minouche Shafik, to resign unless she can improve what he called her failure to handle the anti-Israel protests on campus.
During the news conference on the university's campus, Johnson said Shafik should step down "if she can't immediately bring order to this chaos."
"As speaker of the House, I am committing today that the Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are expected to run for their lives and stay home from -- fighting in fear," Johnson said.
The scene at the news conference was rowdy itself, as Johnson and other House Republicans got booed and heckled throughout -- their words sometimes nearly drowned out by shouting from the crowd.
Shafik, who met with Johnson on Wednesday, and the rest of the university administration are committed to ensuring the safety of the campus community and ending the encampment, Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said in a briefing with reporters later on Wednesday.
-ABC News' Lauren Peller and Sarah Beth Hensley