More than 200 Pro-Hamas protesters were arrested on Saturday at Northeastern University, Arizona State University, Indiana University, and Washington University in St. Louis–where Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among those arrested, alongside her campaign manager and spokesperson.
More than 80 arrests were made At Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday and the campus was locked down. There were more than 100 pro-Hamas dwellers in the encampment.
State Troopers alongside Riot Police have finally begun to Clear Out and Arrest the remaining Pro-Hamas Demonstrators at the Encampment located inside of Ohio State University in Columbus, with things briefly getting Violent after several of the Demonstrators attempted to Fight… pic.twitter.com/8y5cDQEfDq
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 26, 2024
Boston’s Northeastern University announced on Friday that the school was “infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern.” At the break of dawn on Saturday, officers from the Massachusetts State Police descended upon the encampment, initiating the arrest of protesters. They used zip-tie handcuffs on the protesters and dismantled several tents. Reports indicate 102 protesters were apprehended, all of whom were unable to produce university ID cards. Those who did, according to the university, were released.
Northeastern’s vice president for communications, Renata Nyul, said, “Last night, the use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’ crossed the line. We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus.”
That was unexpected. In the Middle East, if you kill the Jews, you get a Palestinian State.
Harvard, nearby, implemented restricted access to its renowned Harvard Yard, permitting entry solely to individuals with a valid university ID. Additionally, the university took the step of suspending a pro-Hamas group. Despite this, the group and its supporters established an encampment within the yard.
Things have become so violent on so many campuses that many schools from coast to coast decided to cancel their graduation ceremonies. Turns out not so many graduates want to be in a selfie with a Hamas supporter.
The Cornell Daily Sun reported on Friday that four pro-Hamas demonstrators had been suspended and charged with unauthorized use of university property by engaging in or facilitating outdoor camping on the Arts Quad without approval, failure to comply with university directives to remove the unauthorized encampment, unreasonably loud chants and behavior, failure to disperse from the Arts Quad, and staying past 8 PM on Thursday, April 25, the deadline given by administrators.
One of the detainees, a graduate student named Bianca Waked who is Deaf was charged with unreasonably loud behavior. Commendable.
On Friday night, interim president J. Larry Jameson of the University of Pennsylvania issued a call for the immediate dissolution of encampments on campus. He also addressed an incident of vandalism on a campus statue, characterized by him as bearing “antisemitic graffiti.” Jameson said any form of harassment or intimidation, whether in speech or action, violated university policies as well as state and federal laws.
The statement further warned of consequences for failure to comply with the disbandment order and adherence to university policies, with sanctions to be applied in accordance with due process procedures for students, faculty, and staff. However, by late Saturday, a university spokesperson noted that the encampment remained intact despite the directive.
In Indiana University Bloomington, police arrested 23 pro-Hamas individuals on Saturday for criminal trespassing and resisting police officers. The Police gave six verbal warnings to the pro-Hamas activists to remove their tents from the campus before clashing with them, using batons. According to police, “Affiliation with Indiana University for those arrested has not been confirmed.”
Riot police clear out the Gaza encampment at Indiana University.pic.twitter.com/GEEdUg2Q0X
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 28, 2024
Police at Arizona State University on Saturday arrested 69 individuals for trespassing and setting up an illegal encampment. Police detained them after they refused to remove their tents, noting that most of them “were not ASU students, faculty or staff.”
In downtown Denver, about 40 protesters were arrested Friday at an encampment on the grounds of Auraria Higher Education Center, a local community college.
If they do well, they could move up to a 4-year school’s pro-Hamas encampment.
On April 22, the Wall Street Journal editorial board cited a recent incident at Columbia University, where pro-Hams demonstrators surrounded Jewish students to push them from the protest encampment that dominated the campus lawn.
“Attention Everyone,” a voice says in a campus video, “Can I get everyone to form a human chain, we have a Zionist at the entrance of our encampment.”
The “Zionist” was a Jewish student whose friend wore a necklace with a Star of David. The pro-Hamas crowd followed the order to “slowly walk and take a step forward so we can push them out of the camp.”
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, wrote on April 19: “Nowhere was safe. Daniel Kroll, a junior, was accosted in a kosher dining area by a student shouting “[Expletive] the Jews.” Eden Yadegar, another junior, testified at a congressional roundtable in February: “We’ve been attacked with sticks outside our library, we’ve been surrounded by angry mobs, and we have been threatened.”
An Israeli student at Columbia told Kan11 News she had been threatened with a knife on campus. Recalling her Holocaust survivor grandparents, she says, “I don’t wish to be the first Jew they are going to murder.”
The Wall Street Journal interviewed Chaya Droznik and Jessica Schwalb, both juniors at Columbia, who said “protesters had subjected them to harassment, including a moment they recorded of a man standing near the encampment with his face covered by a kaffiyeh, telling them, ‘I’m gonna do just like they did all the soldiers on Oct. 7…yo, you all got smoked.’”
And then, Schwalb, who is studying human rights, told the WSJ: “I think Palestinians should have their own state, I think they should have equal human rights, civil rights. That’s what I want for anyone.”
So much for learning from experience. Why not repeat Jessica Schwalb’s experience in, say, Kfar Saba?
NYPD’s strategic response group is currently moving in to clear the NYU Palestine solidarity encampment.
Hundreds of students moved towards police as they approached to protect the encampment and fellow students who were praying when they showed up.
Students have their arms… pic.twitter.com/4XZvWBoEry
— Isabelle Leyva (@isabelle_leyva) April 23, 2024
