May 2, 2024 - US college protests

Out of the total 282 people arrested at both Columbia University and the City College of New York on Tuesday, 134 individuals were not affiliated with either school, according to a New York Police Department official who shared the breakdown with CNN. The remaining 148 individuals did have an affiliation with one of the two universities.

Broken down by school, the numbers skew a bit differently — 80 people arrested at Columbia did have an affiliation with the Ivy League university, while only 32 did not, according to the official. Those numbers represent arrests both inside and outside Hamilton Hall. 

At CCNY, the breakdown was flipped —102 people arrested were not affiliated with the school and only 68 were affiliated. 

The NYPD said it was able to determine this data by cross-checking records with the universities. 

Law enforcement officers have pushed farther into the UCLA encampment site, live CNN images show.

A CNN team on campus saw a group of officers going through Royce Hall, a building directly next to the encampment, to make their way onto the encampment site.

The team also saw members of law enforcement fire what appeared to be rubber bullets. 

CNN crews at the site of the UCLA encampment have seen dozens of protesters being detained by California Highway Patrol officers early Thursday.

Protesters were attempting to reinforce the barricade while police in protective gear were breaking through it.

Officers are taking the detained protesters to buses that police staged in a parking lot roughly a mile from the campus.

Flashbangs were heard as California Highway Patrol officers began tearing down the barricades outside the UCLA encampment early Thursday morning and detaining pro-Palestinian protesters on the site.

The officers from CHP’s special operations unit were seen in video footage in police riot gear with helmets, gas masks, zip ties and getting their batons ready as they entered the encampment, while screams were heard from behind the barricades.

Some protesters were kneeling on the ground with their arms zip-tied behind their backs as officers detained them and continued bringing more protesters outside the encampment.

CNN’s Nick Watt, who is on scene at UCLA, said detained students are being taken to nearby buses on the campus.

UCLA issued a safety alert shortly before 3 a.m. PT (6 a.m. ET) asking students to avoid Dickson Plaza, the area where the pro-Palestinian protester encampment is set up.

"Police have ordered an evacuation of Dickson Plaza due to an unlawful assembly," the alert said.

"The University of California Los Angeles has declared the encampment and all unauthorized tents and structures in Dickson Plaza to be unlawful. The University requires that everyone must leave the encampment and adjacent areas, as well as all unauthorized structures and tents immediately, until further notice," the alert said.

Those who do not disperse "will be in violation of the law" and could face sanctions if they do not leave, the university said. 

Law enforcement officers began early Thursday morning pulling aside barricades put up outside the encampment on the UCLA campus, CNN footage from the scene shows.

The officers, who were seen wearing California Highway Patrol vests from its special operations unit, were holding onto protective umbrellas as they appeared to be making their way back into the encampment.

Police have warned the protesters that if they stay in encampment they will be liable for arrest and might get hurt, but a large number of protesters remained.

As officers were moving in, shouts could be heard from inside the encampment, saying "hold the line, hold the line!"

Meanwhile, some protesters are gathered on the iconic UCLA Janss Steps in what appears to be an attempt to prevent law enforcement from easily accessing the encampment, CNN video from the scene shows.

Protesters can be seen sitting next to one another on the steps. People sitting at the bottom of the stairs are seen holding open umbrellas. 

Watch the scene:

The grassy expanse of the University of Queensland’s Great Court has long been the center of student life at the Australian state’s biggest university.

Now it’s a gathering point for rival camps pitched about 300 feet from each other – one populated by supporters of the Students for Palestine UQ, and another smaller cluster of tents with the Israeli flag among others strung between trees.

These camps are among protest sites at seven universities around Australia – from Melbourne and Sydney in the country’s southeast, to Adelaide in its center, and Perth along the western coast.

They were erected in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza and student protesters in the United States, but some Jewish groups say they’re causing unnecessary tension on campus and the country’s federal opposition leader has called them “racist” and “antisemitic.”

So far, violent scenes that have erupted at universities across the US involving protesters, counterprotesters and law enforcement have not been repeated in Australia. But some students worry events could move in that direction.

At the nation’s biggest camp, simmering tensions could flare on Friday, when Jewish groups hold the first major counter-rally at the University of Sydney (USYD) under the slogan “March for a safe campus.”

In response, the Sydney branch of Students for Palestine issued a call-out on Facebook to “defend” the camp.

Members of Students for Palestine told CNN their protest “encampment” includes a diverse array of students and does not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Read the full story.

Students at some universities in the United Kingdom have set up pro-Palestinian encampments in recent days.

At Newcastle University, a small pro-Palestinian encampment has been set up on a lawn in front of the college's buildings, video and pictures on social media showed.

The X account "Newcastle Apartheid Off Campus" shared images of their encampment, which shows around a dozen tents on the lawn, some with Palestinian flags hanging from them.

The group describes itself as a "student-led coalition fighting for an end to Newcastle University's partnership with defense companies supplying Israel" and said, in an X post Wednesday evening, that they would be "staying the night."

"Day one of the encampment is coming to an end," the post said, adding that "numbers are growing by the hour."

Students in the English cities of Leeds and Bristol also set up tents outside their university buildings Wednesday in protest against the war in Gaza, according to PA news agency. PA also reported that a camp at Warwick University, in central England, has been installed on the university's campus for a week. 

On Friday, the University of Warwick said it was aware of an "ongoing demonstration" on campus organized by "Warwick Stands With Palestine," a coalition of student and staff organizations. The university said it was "speaking to the demonstration's organizers" but reiterated that freedom of speech is a "vital component of university life." 

Police who entered the UCLA encampment earlier this morning have subsequently left, a CNN team on site reports.

While protesters can be heard yelling at officers, the overall scene is peaceful and there are no clashes within the CNN team's line of sight.

A police presence can still be seen at the perimeter of the encampment, but the police line has been pushed back significantly.

Protesters — who appear to overwhelmingly outnumber law enforcement officers by the encampment — can be seen gathering on the Janss Steps, a campus landmark, chanting "we're not leaving!"

More to come.