Anti-Israel student protests continue to sweep the US, with nearly 550 arrests | US News

Student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza continue to spread across the US, following the arrest last week of more than 100 protesters at Columbia University.

There were nearly 550 protest-related arrests last week at major U.S. universities, according to a tally by the Reuters news agency.

Students want universities to cut ties with companies that help Israel in the war in Gaza and, in some cases, with Israel itself.

Some universities have called on the police to put an end to demonstrations, resulting in clashes and arrests, while others appear to be biding their time as the academic semester enters its final days.

The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony, scheduled for May 10, following the arrest of 93 people on the Los Angeles campus on Wednesday.

At Boston’s Emerson College, 108 people were arrested overnight with video showing students linking arms to resist officers, who then moved forcefully into the crowd, knocking some students to the ground.

Student protester Ocean Muir said: “There were just more police on all sides.

“It felt like we were slowly being pushed and crushed.”

She said police lifted her by her arms and legs to carry her away and she was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

On the Emory University campus in Atlanta, 28 people were detained and the local chapter of the activist group Jewish Voice For Peace said police used tear gas and Tasers against protesters.

The police admitted the use of “chemical irritants” but denied the use of rubber bullets.

Cheryl Elliott, Emory’s vice president for public safety, said the goal was to clear the area of ​​a “disruptive encampment while also holding individuals accountable to the law,” but human rights groups questioned the “apparent use of excessive force ” against freedom of expression.

However, charges were dropped against 46 of the 60 people detained by police at the University of Texas.

At Indiana University Bloomington, police with shields and batons charged into a line of protesters, arresting 33 people.

At City College of New York, police officers retreated from protests to applause from hundreds of students gathered on the lawn of the Harlem campus.

At California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt, students have been barricaded in a campus building since Monday, with officials trying to negotiate.

At the University of Connecticut, a protester was arrested and tents were demolished, while protests continued at Stanford University and Princeton University’s New Jersey campus.

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Harvard University is among those that took no action against protesters who set up tents.

At the Columbia University in New York, where the protest movement beganUniversity officials remain at an impasse with students.

Police removed tents and arrested more than 100 people last week, but students have re-pitched tents in an area where graduation ceremonies will be held in a few weeks.

The government gave protesters until Friday to leave.

There have been accusations that some pro-Palestinian protesters have harassed or abused Jewish students, but protesters blame foreigners trying to infiltrate and defame their movement.

Protest leaders admit there was abuse directed at Jewish students, but insist the protests are not anti-Semitic.

Some of the universities saw counter-protests from Israel supporters.