Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at several U.S. colleges

As the conflict in Gaza continues to reverberate across U.S. university campuses, police arrested dozens of people during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Monday at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University (NYU) in Manhattan, Reuters reported. 

Earlier this week, Columbia University canceled in-person classes due to protesters setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus.

In New Haven, Connecticut, demonstrators blocked traffic around Yale University's campus, demanding that the school divest from weapons manufacturers. According to the student-run Yale Daily News, police arrested more than 45 protesters.

The police moved on the NYU crowd shortly after nightfall as hundreds of demonstrators defied warnings from the university that they would face consequences if they refused to leave a plaza where they had gathered, the Reuters report added. In a video posted on social media, police took down tents from the protesters' encampment.

As demonstrators tussled with officers and chanted, "We will not stop, we will not rest. Disclose. Divest."

"It's a really outrageous crackdown by the university to allow the police to arrest students on our own campus," said NYU law student Byul Yoon.

In an email to Columbia staff and students on Monday, Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik announced that the university was canceling in-person classes and moving to online teaching to "deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps."

Shafik called in the New York Police to clear a tent encampment that protesters set up on Columbia's main lawn to demand that the school divest from Israel-related investments, a move that some faculty members condemned, according to Reuters. 

"These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas," said Shafik, who last week testified before a U.S. House of Representatives committee, defending the school's response to alleged antisemitism by protesters.

In Massachusetts, a sign said Harvard Yard was closed to the public on Monday. It said structures, including tents and tables, were only allowed into the yard with prior permission. "Students violating these policies are subject to disciplinary action," the sign stated. People were being checked for school identification by security guards.

On the same day, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee announced the university's administration had suspended it because of what they viewed as technicalities in opaque university policies. This organization, which has organized protests, did not elaborate on the reasons for their suspension, the AP reported.

"Harvard has shown us time and again that Palestine remains the exception to free speech," the group wrote in a statement.