By Wonderwall.com Editors
7:57am PDT, May 3, 2024
_
Unrest and a growing police presence continues on college campuses across the country into May amid ongoing protests against the Israel-Hamas war and calls for schools to divest from Israel.
While some schools have negotiated deals with activists to tamp down the demonstration activity, others have turned to police for assistance in emptying pro-Palestinian tent encampments and dispersing protesters. More than 1,300 protesters on campuses nationwide were taken into custody between April 18 and May 1, The New York Times reported. At the University of California, Los Angeles early on May 2, police reportedly arrested more than 100 people while clearing an encampment following a violent clash between protesters and counter-protesters earlier in the week.
"Dissent is essential for democracy. But dissent must never lead to disorder," President Joe Biden said on May 2, as reported by the Associated Press. "There's the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. People have the right to get an education, the right to get a degree, the right to walk across campus safely without fear of being attacked."
While intense scenes have unfolded on campuses nationwide in recent days, Columbia University in New York City has been a major hotbed. After demonstrators took over a building on the campus on April 30, NYPD officers arrested nearly 300 people in connection with protests there and at other campuses in the state, Mayor Eric Adams told the Times. Police have also intervened on the campuses of Tulane University, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Arizona and others.
Protesters at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., seen here on April 29 flooding an encampment after barricades fell, were reportedly calling for the school to divest from Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Keep reading for more details and dramatic images…
MORE: Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more celebrity & entertainment photo galleries and content
_
Pro-Palestinian protestors occupying Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in New York City lift a milk crate with supplies.
NYPD officers entered Columbia's campus on April 30, 2024, and were spotted in front of a building barricaded by student protesters, according to an AFP reporter. Once they arrived, police began pushing protesters outside, the reporter said.
_
Police break through barricades set up by pro-Palestinian protestors at an encampment at UCLA in Los Angeles on May 2, 2024. Police had cleared UCLA's student encampment in a late-night operation, and arrested more than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators early on Thursday morning, according to multiple sources.
_
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers keep watch at a pro-Palestinian encampment the morning after it was attacked by counter-protestors at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus, on May 1, 2024.
A group of counter-protestors attacked the camp overnight, leaving some demonstrators wounded. The camp was declared "unlawful" by the university on April 30, after which classes were cancelled due to the violence.
Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country, with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
_
Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza and calling for Columbia University to divest from Israel are seen near an encampment on the school's campus in New York City on April 30, 2024.
_
A student activist occupying University Yard at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hugs someone on the other side of fencing erected by campus police on April 27, 2024.
_
A demonstrator wears an Israeli flag while carrying an American flag near a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles campus on April 30, 2024.
_
Activists and students sew a banner while protesting near an encampment at University Yard at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2024.
Campus law enforcement closed off access to the encampment for additional participants. Students at colleges across the country have demanded their schools divest from Israel amid the war in Gaza.
_
Professors Karma R. Chavez and Pavithra Vasudevan speak with students during a pro-Palestine educational rally on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on April 30, 2024.
The professors gathered with students to process recent events and discuss the history of Palestine in light of recent campus uprisings around the country.
Protests against the war in Gaza have continued to sweep across college campuses nationwide, with more than 40 schools participating by the end of April.
_
Israeli flags are planted in the shape of the Star of David on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 30, 2024.
All classes at Columbia were held virtually after the university's president, Minouche Shafik, announced a shift to online learning in response to recent unrest on campus.
_
An NYPD bus transports arrested student protestors off the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 30, 2024. The university had limited campus access to only students residing there and employees who provide essential services after protestors took over Hamilton Hall overnight and renamed it Hind's Hall in honor of Hind Rajab, the 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli military in January after becoming the sole survivor of Israeli tank fire on the vehicle in which she had fled with six relatives.
Students had barricaded themselves in the building while others erected another encampment outside Lewisohn Hall. Protesters said they planned to remain there until the university met their demands of divesting from Israel amid the war in Gaza.
_
An encampment of pro-Palestinian student protestors is seen near an American flag and pictures of hostages held by Hamas at Columbia University in New York City on April 30, 2024.
_
People pray as activists and students protest the war in Gaza near an encampment at University Yard at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2024.
Campus law enforcement closed off access to the encampment as protesters joined calls for the university to divest from Israel.
_
A Palestinian flag flies at an encampment the morning after it was attacked by counter-protestors at the University of California, Los Angeles campus, on May 1, 2024.
A group of counter-protestors attacked the camp the night before, leaving some demonstrators wounded and sparking UCLA to cancel classes the next day due to the violence.
