Crackdowns at 3 protests lead to nearly 200 arrests
Nearly 200 protesters were arrested Saturday at Northeastern University, Arizona State University and Indiana University, according to officials, as colleges across the country struggle to quell growing pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments on campus.
More than 700 protesters have been arrested on U.S. campuses since April 18, when Columbia University had the New York Police Department clear a protest encampment there. In several cases, most of those who were arrested have been released.
At Northeastern, in Boston, protesters had set up an encampment on the campus's Centennial Common this past week that drew more than 100 supporters. The administration had asked the protesters to leave, but many students did not.
Around dawn Saturday, Massachusetts State Police officers arrived at the encampment and began to arrest protesters, putting them in ziptie handcuffs and taking several tents down. They said they had arrested 102 protesters. It was unclear how many of those arrested were students, but the university said students who showed their university IDs were being released.
A Northeastern spokesperson, Renata Nyul, said the demonstration had been “infiltrated by professional organizers” and that the “use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including `Kill the Jews,' crossed the line.”
Protesters denied both claims, and a video appeared to show that it was a pro-Israel counterprotester who used the phrase, as part of his criticism of the pro-Palestinian protesters' chants. In response to that video, Nyul stood by her initial comments, adding that “any suggestion that repulsive, antisemitic comments are sometimes acceptable depending on the context is reprehensible.”
More than 2,500 miles away, at Arizona State, school police arrested 69 people early Saturday after they set up an unauthorized encampment, which was in violation of university policy, school officials said.
The school said that the protesters had created an encampment and that the group was instructed multiple times to disperse.
“While the university will continue to be an environment that embraces freedom of speech, ASU's first priority is to create a safe and secure environment that supports teaching and learning,” school officials said in a statement.
At Indiana University Bloomington, where university police had arrested 33 people at an encampment this past week, campus and state police arrested 23 more protesters Saturday. Officials said a group had “erected numerous tents and canopies on Friday night with the stated intention to occupy the university space indefinitely.”