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.


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Columbia University negotiator says 5 p.m. not a hard deadline

The lead student negotiator with a Columbia University student group organizing the encampment says there is no longer a "deadline" for them to leave, but more of a "timeline."

The group -- Columbia University Apartheid Divest group -- says negotiations with the university remain ongoing and another decision will be made at 5 p.m.

"We have until 5 p.m. to come up with a plan," the Columbia student negotiator said.

-ABC News' Stephanie Ramos


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.


Students arrested, charged with trespass at Ohio State University

Students were arrested and charged with trespass at Ohio State University after refusing to leave a pro-Palestinian encampment late Thursday.

"Well established university rules prohibit camping and overnight events. Demonstrators exercised their first amendment rights for several hours and were then instructed to disperse. Individuals who refused to leave after multiple warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass," the university said in a statement to ABC News.

Videos show protesters chanting and tussling with officers outside the Ohio State University student union building. In another video, police can be heard issuing a loudspeaker warning to a dispersing crowd at OSU as a helicopter flies overhead.

Another video shows an officer tackling someone to the ground as other officers force people back and another person falls to the ground.

-ABC News' Matthew Holroyd and Ahmad Hemingway


Columbia University says talks with protesters 'remain ongoing'

Columbia University sent a message to the community late Thursday night, saying discussions with student protesters are "ongoing."
"The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned," Columbia said in its message.

"For several days, a small group of faculty, administrators, and University Senators have been in dialogue with student organizers to discuss the basis for dismantling the encampment, dispersing, and following University policies going forward," the message continued. "We have our demands; they have theirs. A formal process is underway and continues."

-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway


NYU students set up new encampment days after over 130 students, faculty arrested

New York University students set up a new pro-Palestinian encampment Friday, after over 130 students and faculty were arrested at an encampment earlier this week.

The protesters are calling on the university to divest and cut ties with Israel and companies profit from its onslaught on Gaza — including shutting down the NYU Tel Aviv campus and a boycott of Tel Aviv University. They are also calling for full amnesty for pro-Palestinian activism and for IOF-trained cops to leave campus.

"Despite the violent repression students have face, we will not back down. We have no reason to fear when Palestinians demonstrate their courage and resiliency in the face of far greater danger. Our fear has turned into resolve," the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition said in a statement Saturday.

Protesters say they were removed and arrests were made at a "100% peaceful" protest earlier this week, refuting the university's allegation that there was "antagonizing behavior" and a security breach caused it to invite New York police onto campus and make arrests, a representative for the NYU PSC told ABC News.

Protesters say they calmly entered the encampment after the university did not follow through on providing a timeline of when they would allow more students into the plaza, according to the student who was at the protest outside the encampment, but was not arrested.

Police started making arrests Monday after Muslim protesters began Maghreb prayer -- a daily Muslim prayer made during the sunset hour -- according to the student.

"Our peaceful protest was met with complete and utter violence green lighted by our university president and her administration," the student, who asked that ABC News conceal their identity for safety, said.

The university pushed back against the protester's account, saying "there is no right to create encampments of tents on the University's property."

"Despite repeatedly being told no additional protesters would be permitted on the plaza - early on Monday afternoon protesters on West 4th Street breached the barricades we had set up, nearly doubling the number of people on the plaza, with hundreds of additional demonstrators in the street," NYU said in a statement to ABC News.

"Those on the plaza urged them onwards and that Campus Safety Officers were shoved and forced out of the way by people attempting to gain entry to the plaza," NYU said.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab