May 1, 2024 - US campus protests

A violent confrontation has broken out between pro-Palestinian protesters and Israel supporters at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), multiple news outlets report.  

The clash came hours after UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus "unlawful" on Tuesday night.

Block said the school had increased security and that students who didn't leave the encampment would face disciplinary action.

The Daily Bruin had reported a standoff between protesters and counter-protesters, and fireworks being launched into the encampment. 

Video from CNN affiliate KABC shows fireworks, objects being thrown, and physical violence among demonstrators. 

Zach Seidl, spokesperson for the L.A. Mayor's office, said in a post on X that the "mayor has spoken to Chancellor Block and Chief Choi. LAPD is responding immediately to Chancellor Block’s request for support on campus.” 

It's unclear whether anyone has been seriously injured. 

CNN has reached out to UCLA, UCLA Police and LAPD for comment.  

Dramatic campus protests are injecting an inflammatory new element into an election year that is already threatening to stretch national unity to a breaking point.

Tensions spiked late Tuesday following an operation by New York Police Department surge teams to reclaim the Columbia University campus from pro-Palestinian demonstrators and followed scuffles, arrests and canceled classes on at least 25 campuses in 21 states.

The protests were triggered by the terrible civilian toll of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, but they’re now exposing the country’s ideological schisms and new political currents.

The protests are a new test for President Joe Biden as he seeks reelection, with the Gaza war tearing deep rifts in his fragile electoral coalition.

Any president torn between implementing what he thinks is in the US national interest – in this case, defending Israel – and his own political imperatives is in a perilous spot, let alone one who is six months from asking voters for a second term.

And if protests spread and Biden looks like he’s losing control of the country, the political consequences could be ruinous.

Read the full analysis.

Nearly all pro-Palestinian protests rocking college campuses across the US have called for universities to divest from Israel in some form.

What would divestment look like?

Divestment is the opposite of investment.

Many universities have an endowment, which is donated funds generally invested in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments to help the university earn money.

At Columbia, a group of students wants the college to divest its $13.6 billion endowment from any company linked to Israel, including Microsoft and Amazon.

Protesters at other schools, such as Cornell and Yale, want their universities to stop investing in weapons manufacturers.

What are university officials saying?

On Monday, Columbia’s administration reiterated that it would not divest from Israel. Last week, the University of California also said divestment wouldn’t happen.

But some colleges are willing to talk with protesters.

Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, sent a letter to demonstrators saying she would agree to hear a divestment proposal if the school’s encampment were disbanded, according to the student-run newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald.

They've been here before.

Columbia students protesting South Africa's apartheid racial segregation policy in the 1980s called on the school to sever its financial ties with companies doing business in the country.

Columbia eventually voted to sell most of its stock in South Africa-connected companies. Other colleges followed suit.

Read more here.

Since April 18, more than 1,000 people have been arrested on college and university campuses from coast to coast as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies, according to a CNN review of university and law enforcement statements.

Protesters have been arrested on more than 25 campuses across at least 21 states. However, many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.

CNN is monitoring campus protests and will continue to update this map with any new arrests.

Video taken over the weekend at Arizona State University shows a campus police officer removing a hijab from a protester’s head during her arrest.

The blurred video, obtained by Mass Liberation AZ and provided to CNN by attorney Zayed Al-Sayyed, who represents the women, shows several ASU Police Department officers surrounding a woman whose hands are held behind her back as one of the officers removes her hijab.

The officers then pull the woman’s sweatshirt hood over her head and a bystander yells, “So she can wear a hood but not her hijab?” At one point one of the officers blocks the woman from the view of those taking the video, as a person yells, “let her go!”

A lawyer representing her and three other women who said it also happened to them is demanding accountability.

Al-Sayyed, who said the arrests took place early Saturday, did not identify the women but indicated that three of them are students at the university and all four are Phoenix-area residents. They are facing criminal trespass charges.

Upon being taken into custody, Al-Sayyed said, the women explained the significance of a hijab and “begged” to keep their hijabs, but he said they were told that their hijabs had to be removed for safety reasons.

After being detained and bused to jail, the women were not given their hijabs back, Al-Sayyed said.

Around 15 hours later, when he was finally given access to his clients, Al-Sayyed said he was able to bring them new hijabs.

The Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ), condemned the university police for the recorded incident and others like it and called for a full investigation.

In a statement to CNN, the university said, “This matter is under review.” CNN has reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for comment.

Over 100 protesters were arrested Tuesday at Columbia University and City College of New York, according to a law enforcement official.

Most of the arrests were made at Columbia, including about two dozen protesters who police say tried to prevent officers from entering the campus, the official said.

Tactical teams at Columbia first set up a perimeter around the campus to hold back protesters and prevent further arrests, according to the official. Officers then entered the campus through multiple entry points.

NYPD officers used flash-bang grenades Tuesday night to breach Columbia's Hamilton Hall, which protesters had barricaded themselves inside, the police department told CNN.

The building's doors had been barricaded with chairs, tables and vending machines, and windows had been covered with newspaper, the NYPD said.

When a flash-bang grenade is deployed, it emits a bright flash and a very loud bang, often used to shock and disorient. 

Video posted by NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry shows officers searching a bookshelf-lined office after busting the door's lock with a hammer.

Another video shows officers packing a stairwell and passing chairs to one another.

At least 50 officers had earlier used an elevated ramp to climb into the building through a window. 

A lead student negotiator for protesters at Columbia University has told CNN that protests will continue on the campus despite the school's request for a prolonged police presence.

The university has asked NYPD to maintain its presence on campus until May 17.

Since negotiations between student protesters and the Columbia University administration began two weeks ago, the university has not viewed them as an anti-war movement, he said. 

"This is a movement that asks Columbia to divest its investments from the companies that are fueling the war in Gaza right now,” said Khalil, who is a second-year graduate student at Columbia.

Tensions escalated on campus when officers on Tuesday night entered Columbia's Hamilton Hall, which had been occupied by protesters since the early hours of Tuesday, and dozens were seen being arrested.

Khalil said that "the autonomous group decided to take that building when they felt the university is not answering their demands" and was "alienating" them.

Julia Vargas Jones, a CNN journalist and Columbia Journalism School graduate student, said the university's request for an on-campus police presence through May 17 will only "dampen the mood even more" as students and their families prepare for graduation.

NYPD swarmed the university Tuesday night after the university authorized it to go into the campus to clear out a building being occupied by protesters. CNN witnessed dozens of arrests.

"But at the same time, is there a climate for celebration, for graduation?" Jones said.

Jones said she's unsure the climate on campus will be celebratory as graduation nears.

Jones, as she reported from inside Columbia’s campus Tuesday night, said she did not witness any violent altercations. After the campus was cleared by NYPD, Jones described the atmosphere as quiet enough to “hear a pin drop.”