Riot police arrest students as Palestine protests spread to colleges in Texas and California

Riot police are arrested a number of students at campuses across the US on Wednesday as protests over the Israel-Hamas war continue to grow.

On Wednesday afternoon, police on horseback arrived at University of Texas at Austin’s campus and detained at least 20 people participating in the protest, which was organised by the university’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee, according to The Texas Tribune.

The students were demanding that the institution divest from manufacturers supplying Israel weapons in attacks against Palestine, a call that’s been echoed on campuses nationwide. The students gathered at a gym with plans to march through the university and hold a sit-in. By lunchtime around 200 students had banded together.

Up to 100 state troopers were called in to stop the demonstrations. The UT Division of Student Affairs issued a statement saying that the protests are not supported by the university.

“UT Austin does not tolerate disruptions of campus activities or operations like we have seen at other campuses”, the statement read. “This is an important time in our semester with students finishing classes and studying for finals and we will act first and foremost to allow those critical functions to proceed without interruption”.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott called on the protestors to be arrested in a statement posted to X. “Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses”, he wrote. “Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled”.

Similar scenes broke out at the University of Southern California as police arrested a Palestinian student organiser who was later released. More than 100 students at the college placed tents, banners and signs in the centre of the campus.

A peaceful protest on Wednesday was disrupted as students and officers with USC’s Department of Public Safety. Officials clashed. The public safety department called in the Los Angeles Police Department for backup as tensions escalated. About 300 people were thought to be protesting on school grounds and police closed the campus to anyone without a university-issued ID.

The campus movement ignited earlier this month after USC officials decided against letting Valedictorian Asna Tabassum, a Muslim student, give a commencement address citing safety concerns. USC officials did not elaborate on what the concerns were.

Over 100 faculty members wrote a letter to President Carol Folt, Provost Andrew Guzman and the Board of Trustees disagreeing with the decision, stating that it directly contradicts the university’s values.

On Wednesday, students showed their support for Ms Tabassum by chanting “Let her speak” at several points throughout the demonstrations.

Additional arrests were seen at universities around the country this week, including Ohio State and Columbia University. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called for Columbia’s President Dr Nemat Shafik to resign during a visit to Columbia where he was repeatedly booed by students.

Mr Johnson spoke to drowning chants of “We can’t hear you” as he delivered remarks from the steps of Columbia on Wednesday afternoon, calling for student protesters to be arrested. Jewish students told the speaker that they felet unsafe on campus, Mr Johnson said.

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters earlier in the day that she thought Mr Johnson should stay in Washington DC.

“I think politicising this and bringing the entourage to put a spotlight on this is only adding to the division”, Ms Hochul told Politico. “A Speaker worth the title should really be trying to heal people and not divide them, so I don’t think it adds to anything.”

Columbia officials and the protesters had a Wednesday night deadline to reach an agreement that could restore order to the campus.

If an agreement is not reached, Dr Shafik said that officials would be forced to consider other measures to bring the campus back to order.

Other encampments have been established at Brown University, the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California State Polytechnic, Humboldt.

The conflict in the Middle East began on 7 October with the Hamas terror attacks in Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage. In the ensuing Israeli attack on Gaza, more than 30,000 people are thought to have been killed.