Texas police battle with students as protests against Gaza war continue

Police fought with student protesters in Texas and California. More protests are happening at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders try to stop the growing pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

At the University of Texas at Austin, many police officers from the area and the state fought with protesters, making them leave the campus and even pushing some into the street. Some police officers were on horses and carrying batons. University officials and the Texas Governor asked for at least 20 demonstrators to be arrested and held in custody. Greg Abbott, as per the state Department of Public Safety.

A photographer for Fox 7 Austin was arrested at a protest after getting caught in a struggle between police and students. A well-known journalist from Texas was pushed down in the chaos and was bleeding. Police had to help him to get to the hospital where his head was bandaged up.

At the University of Southern California, police and protesters pulled on tents in a back-and-forth way. The police took away some tents but then stopped. In the northern part of California, students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, were stuck inside a building for three days. The school closed the campus for the weekend and made classes online.

Harvard University in Massachusetts wanted to avoid protests this week by making it harder for people to go into Harvard Yard and needing permission for tents and tables. Protesters set up a camp with 14 tents after a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Students are asking schools to stop doing business with Israel and companies that are involved in the war between Israel and Hamas. Many people have been arrested for going into places they weren’t supposed to or for causing problems in public. Some Jewish students feel that the protests have turned into hating Jewish people and are scared to go to campus.

Columbia University stopped another fight between students and police earlier today. Things were still tense there. The school officials will keep talking to the protesters for another 48 hours.

During a visit to the campus, US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, asked Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to step down if she can’t bring order to the chaos.

“He said that if the threats and intimidation are not stopped soon, the National Guard might need to step in. ”

Shafik wanted to reach an agreement by midnight on Tuesday to clear a camp, but the school kept talking and making progress, so they didn’t make a decision yet.

On Wednesday night, a Columbia spokesperson said that the rumors about the university threatening to bring in the National Guard were not true. Ben Chang, who is the vice president for communications at Columbia, said that our main goal is to bring back peace and if we can achieve that by talking, we will try.

Columbia student Omer Lubaton Granot put up pictures of Israeli hostages near the camp because he wanted to remind people that over 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas.

“I see everyone behind me supporting human rights,” he said. “I don’t think they have anything to say about the fact that people their age, who were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are being held by a terror group. ”

Tala Alfoqaha, a student at Harvard Law, and other protestors want the university to be more open about their actions.

“I hope that the people in charge at Harvard University pay attention to what the students have been asking for all year, which is to stop investing in certain things, to be more open about their finances, and to not punish students for anything. ” said a student.

Last week, the police tried to remove the camp at Columbia. They arrested over 100 protesters. The plan didn’t work and instead it inspired other students to do the same thing. It also motivated protesters at Columbia to come together again.

On Wednesday, there were about 60 tents left at the Columbia camp, and everything seemed peaceful. There were a lot of security measures in place at the campus, like needing to show ID and police putting up metal fences.

Columbia agreed with the protest leaders that only students can stay at the camp. They also agreed to make it a friendly place and not allow mean or hurtful words.

A group of students gathered on the University of Minnesota campus to protest, after police arrested nine protesters who were camping outside the library. The United States Rep. Rewrite this text in simple words: Representative. Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was one of the people taken away by the police at Columbia last week, went to a protest later on the same day.

More than 80 professors and assistant professors wrote a letter on Wednesday asking the university’s president and other leaders to not punish anyone and to let people camp without being bothered by the police.

They said they were shocked that the school would allow students to speak out against genocide and the occupation of Palestine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the protests supporting Palestine on American college campuses. He released a video statement on Wednesday, saying that the university presidents’ reactions were shameful. He called on state, local, and federal officials to get involved.

Some students at the protests were hiding their faces and didn’t want to tell reporters who they were, because they were afraid of facing consequences. At a camp with about 40 tents on the University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student had a mask that was given to them when they arrived.

The many protests have made it hard for universities to keep students safe while also respecting their right to speak freely. Many people allowed the protests to continue for a long time, but now they are giving out stricter punishments because they are worried about safety.

This week at New York University, police arrested 133 protestors for causing trouble. They have all been released but have to go to court for their charges. Police took more than 40 protesters into custody on Monday at a camp at Yale University.