Pro-Palestinian protests: Standoffs between students and universities grow tense

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University avoided another confrontation between students and police early Wednesday, but the situation remained tense as campus officials said they would continue negotiations with pro-Palestinian demonstrators for more 48 hours.

University President Minouche Shafik had set until midnight to reach an agreement on evacuating a protest encampment on campus, but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making “significant progress”. The student protesters had pledged to dismantle and remove a significant number of tents, the Ivy League university in New York said in a statement.

Wednesday morning, the camp seemed calm and a little smaller than the day before.

Clashes have also persisted at other universities across the country, including California State Polytechnic University Humboldt, where protesters this week used furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block the enter a building and barricade yourself inside. And new student encampments continued to pop up, including at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Police first attempted to clear the Columbia encampment last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. But the move backfired, prompting other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating Columbia protesters to band together.

Students demonstrate Israel’s war against Hamas are demanding schools cut financial ties towards Israel and divest from the companies that have enabled its months-long conflict. Dozens of people were arrested for trespassing or disorderly conduct. Some Jewish students say the protests turned anti-Semitic and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

Columbia’s reprieve came hours before Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson plans to visit and meet with Jewish students to address concerns about anti-Semitism on college campuses .

Columbia said it agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain in the camp and that they would make it welcoming, prohibiting any discriminatory or harassing language.

Elsewhere, at the University of Minnesota, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar attended a protest Tuesday evening, hours after nine protesters were arrested on campus when police cleared an encampment outside the library. Hundreds of people gathered in the afternoon to demand their release.

Omar’s daughter was among the protesters arrested in Columbia last week.

Also Tuesday night, police arrested more than 200 protesters blocking traffic in Brooklyn near the home of Sen. Chuck Schumer during a non-academic demonstration demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace on the second night of Passover.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses in a video statement released Wednesday, saying the response from several university presidents had been “shameful” and calling on state, local and federal officials to to intervene.

At Cal Poly Humboldt, protesters chanted, “We are not afraid of you!” » before police in riot gear pushed them to the entrance of the building, video shows. Student Peyton McKinzie said she was walking on campus Monday when she saw police grabbing a woman by the hair and another student with his head bandaged for injury.

“I think a lot of students are in shock,” she said.

Three students were arrested, according to a statement from the school, which closed the campus until Wednesday. The students had occupied a second building on campus on Tuesday.

During some protests, students hid their identities. In an encampment of about 40 tents in the heart of the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student wore a mask given to them upon entry.

The student protesters refused to identify themselves to reporters, saying they feared retaliation from the university. Protest organizers said some students who participated in previous protests in Michigan were doxxed and punished. But some students passing by shouted at protesters to remove their masks and show their faces.

The resurgence of protests has left universities struggling to balance campus security with the right to freedom of expression. Many have long tolerated protests but now apply harsher discipline, citing security concerns.

This week at New York University, police said 133 protesters were arrested and all were released with summons to appear in court for disturbing the peace.

More than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.

Harvard University in Massachusetts has tried to stay ahead of the protests by locking most gates to its famous Harvard Yard and limiting access to people with school ID.

Christian Deleon, a doctoral student in literature, said he understands why Harvard’s administration may be trying to avoid protests, but said there still needs to be space for students to express what they they think.

“We should all be able to use these kinds of spaces to protest, to make our voices heard,” he said.

Ben Wizner, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said university leaders face extremely difficult decisions because they have a responsibility to ensure people can express their opinions, even when others find them offensive, while protecting students from threats and intimidation.

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Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists from various locations, including Joey Cappelletti, Will Weissert, Larry Lage, Steve LeBlanc, Dave Collins, Jim Salter, Haven Daley, Jesse Bedayn, John Antczak and Joseph Krauss, contributed to this report.