More than 170 protesters arrested at Northeastern and Arizona State universities

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 stem growing pro-Palestinian protests and encroachment on campuses.

More than 700 protesters have been arrested on US campuses since April 18, when Columbia University had the New York Police Department clear a protest camp there. In many cases, most of those arrested have been released.

At Northeastern, Boston, protesters set up an encampment on the campus’s Centennial Common this week, drawing more than 100 supporters. The administration had asked the protesters to leave, but many students did not leave.

Around dawn on Saturday, Massachusetts State Police officers arrived at the camp and began arresting protesters, putting them in zip-tie handcuffs and tearing down several tents. He said they have arrested 102 protesters. It is unclear how many of those arrested were students, but the university said students who showed their university IDs were released.

Renata Knull, a spokeswoman for Northeast, said the demonstration was “infiltrated by professional organizers” and that “the use of virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including ‘kill the Jews,’ crossed the line.”

Protesters denied both claims, and a video showed it was a pro-Israel counter-protester who used the phrase as part of a criticism of the chants of pro-Palestinian protesters. In response to that video, Ms. Knull stood by her initial comments, and said that “any suggestion that sometimes repulsive, anti-Semitic comments are acceptable, depending on the context, is reprehensible.”

After police removed the protesters from the encampment and then handcuffed them to a nearby building, they moved to block a nearby street where police vehicles were parked. When one of the arrested protesters – wearing a Northeastern sweatshirt – climbed out of the building’s windows with zip-tied hands, they cheered in support.

Alina Caudle, a second-year student at Northeastern University, reiterated protesters’ demands that the university disclose its investments and divest from companies that protesters see as supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

“We want them to sell us the money we’re paying for our tuition,” Ms. Caudle said. “Our administration is not listening to us.”

Ms. Caudle said she believed the majority of students at the camp were students from Northeastern, with a large number of Jewish students and teachers supporting the protest.

Most of the encroachments were removed by 11 am on Saturday. A moving company was called in to pick up the tents, snacks and other items spread across the grounds.

The mass arrest at Northeastern was the second early-morning crackdown on protesters on the Boston campus in less than a week. On Thursday morning, Boston police officers arrested 118 people at Emerson College after protesters refused to disperse and set up a barricade.

More than 2,500 miles away, at Arizona State University, school police arrested 69 people Saturday morning for unauthorized camping, a violation of university policy, school officials said.

The school said protesters had formed a circle and the group was instructed several times to disperse.

“Although the university will continue to be an environment that embraces freedom of expression, ASU’s first priority is to create a safe and secure environment that supports teaching and learning,” school officials said in a statement.

Three people were also arrested at the school in connection with a protest Friday, officials said.

At Indiana University Bloomington, where university police arrested 33 people at an encampment earlier this week, campus and state police arrested 23 more protesters on Saturday. Officials said a group had “erected several tents and umbrellas on Friday night with the alleged intention of occupying the university site indefinitely.”

Schools across the country have used different strategies over the past week to defuse the protests. Some have retreated and are trying to defuse tensions, while at other colleges, such as the University of Southern California and Emory University, police have rushed to break up camps and arrest others, including students and faculty members.

At some demonstrations, there were some reports of injuries, but in many cases, arrests have been peaceful, and protesters have often given themselves up voluntarily when authorities arrived.

Apart from arrests, schools are also using other measures to apply pressure. At Cornell University, the student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, reported Friday that four students associated with the pro-Palestinian camp on campus have been suspended from school. Cornell officials confirmed that suspensions had been issued, but declined to disclose the number.

In a statement Saturday afternoon, Joel M. Malina, the university’s vice president of university relations, said the school had asked protesters to move to an area “where noise will not disrupt classes” and where people could easily camp. Can avoid. But he said the proposal has been rejected.

Mr. Malina also said the university is prepared to issue additional suspensions, “as well as referrals to HR for employee participants.”

Nick Wilson, a student who said he was one of those suspended, said in an opinion article for The Cornell Daily Sun that he and others were withdrawn from their current courses and not allowed on campus. Went. Still, he wrote, “in a strange way” the suspension gave him hope. According to his argument, institutions like Cornell would not have suspended him and others “unless they were genuinely afraid that our movement might succeed.”

Halina Bennett and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs Contributed to the reporting.