More than 130 protesters were arrested at New York University on Monday night, the New York Police Department told The Washington Post, as students demonstrating against the Israel-Gaza war continued to be met by police across the United States.
University campuses across the country have seen a surge in antiwar demonstrations in recent days, including students moving into tents in protest encampments. Some of these, including at Columbia University on Thursday and NYU on Monday night, were cleared by police called in at the request of the institutions. Dozens were arrested at Yale University on Monday morning, and students barricaded themselves late Monday inside a building at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt.
Police arrested 133 protesters on NYU’s campus, a spokesperson for the NYPD deputy commissioner of public information said. Not everyone present at the encampment was arrested, with some released and some receiving a criminal court summons, the spokesperson said.
At Columbia University, where the latest wave of campus unrest began, the university sent an email to staff and students on Monday requiring many classes at its Morningside main campus to be hybrid where possible for the rest of the semester. “Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university added in the email, seen by The Washington Post.
College leaders are facing intense scrutiny over whether they are doing enough to protect students, faculty and staff against alleged antisemitism and other bias since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack and subsequent conflict — even as they confront scathing criticism from those who say they are denying students’ right to speak out and censoring political protests.
On April 22, dozens were arrested at New York University and Yale as tensions flared again on campuses over the Israel-Gaza war. (Video: Julie Yoon/The Washington Post)
In New York, police cleared a protest encampment centered at NYU’s Gould Plaza on Monday night at the request of the university, the New York Police Department and an NYU spokesperson said. Faculty members and students were arrested, according to NYU Faculty for Justice in Palestine. The NYPD told The Post it did not know how many of the 133 arrested protesters were students or faculty.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told Fox 5 New York early Tuesday that on Monday night, around 10 to 15 faculty members had “their hands tied together in a chain” and that they were “most aggressive” toward police officers. “They would not move, they would not let go,” he said, adding that staff were “physical” toward police.
Daughtry said police were asked to come in by school leadership who requested assistance and that protesters were asked to leave the area before officers took action.
In the joint interview with Fox, Tarik Sheppard, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information, said he was “very surprised” at the actions of faculty members, adding that parents probably “have an expectation” that teachers and professors will be teaching and “not out there protesting.”
Daughtry said he witnessed bottles being thrown at police Monday evening and that “professional agitators” were among those demonstrating. “They tried to agitate our cops last night and it didn’t work,” he said, adding, “Somebody is behind this.”
Sheppard said officials were using lessons learned from Columbia to tackle the situation at NYU and to help form a plan to keep Gould Plaza clear of protesters. Footage shown by Fox on Tuesday showed a panel being set up to block off the plaza.
Videos on social media showed dozens of officers in tense confrontations with protesters. Some officers tossed tents, and others grappled with demonstrators. Videos also showed police loading people, whose hands were zip-tied behind their backs, onto police buses.
NYU spokesman John Beckman said the university blocked access to the plaza where about 50 protesters were demonstrating “without authorization” Monday morning.
The barriers were breached early in the afternoon by additional protesters, “many of whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU,” he said. They exhibited “disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior” and refused to leave when told the protests would be disbanded, Beckman said. The university then requested assistance from the NYPD, he said, adding that “several antisemitic incidents” were reported.
At Cal Poly Humboldt, the campus will be closed through Wednesday after student protesters barricaded themselves inside a building, Siemens Hall, the university said late Monday. It added that buildings are “locked down” and that “key cards will not work.”
The university urged people to stay away from the “dangerous and volatile situation” at the hall and said it was “deeply concerned about the safety of the protesters.” It urged them to “listen to directives from law enforcement … and to peacefully leave the building.”
A photo posted by National Students for Justice in Palestine showed the entry blocked with piled-up furniture.
Barricades at the Cal Poly Humboldt occupation, where riot police have recently arrived on the scene pic.twitter.com/FHT0WLnH72
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) April 23, 2024
Humboldt for Palestine, an activist group, posted on social media that students have “taken” the campus’s Siemens Hall, listing demands including that the university divest from any ties to Israel. It posted video of police appearing to push against the barricaded students and a statement that there had been arrests. When called late Monday, the University Police Department said it would answer questions “when the situation has de-escalated.”
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested at Columbia when the university called in the NYPD to clear a pro-Palestinian protest encampment on Thursday, sparking solidarity demonstrations on other campuses.
Yale said 47 students were arrested at Beinecke Plaza on Monday and will be referred for disciplinary action, potentially including suspension. The school said it made repeated efforts over the weekend to talk to protesters, offered them meetings with trustees and warned of arrests before the Monday morning action. Police released the detained protesters.
“I was deeply saddened that the call for civil discourse and peaceful protest I issued was not heeded,” Yale President Peter Salovey said in a message to the campus community. Salovey noted that members of the Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, Arab, and Palestinian communities “reported that the campus environment had become increasingly difficult.”
Tacey Hutten, a student protester at Yale who was arrested Monday, said in an interview: “Not only are we not deterred, we may even be more engaged now. … We’re resolute. I’ve been involved in this struggle for a couple of months now and plan to be for the rest of my life.”
Other campuses also are contending with increasingly aggressive campus activism. A group of student protesters at Pomona College in California was arrested earlier this month after storming the president’s office. At the University of California at Berkeley in February, protesters broke windows and a door while disrupting a talk given by an Israeli lawyer.
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