May 2, 2024 - US college protests

The large law enforcement presence on UCLA's campus is comprised of several agencies to perform specific tasks to clear the encampment, according to a source familiar with law enforcement plans:

Law enforcement on site will be equipped with protective gear, including gas masks, according to the source. The UCLA hospital will also be on standby to receive anyone who may be injured, the source said.

State police were deployed to the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College due to “illegal activity and at the request of local law enforcement,” the New Hampshire Department of Safety told CNN.

The University of New Hampshire told CNN that students supporting Palestinians had peacefully protested on campus at least seven times over the past six months.

The university said it will protect free speech on campus but "will not allow it to be co-opted by a small group of protesters, including outside agitators.”

CNN has reached out to Dartmouth College for comment. 

Multiple people were arrested during an ongoing pro-Palestinian protest at Dartmouth College on Wednesday night, according to CNN affiliate WMUR.

Multiple people have been arrested during an ongoing pro-Palestinian protest at Dartmouth College on Wednesday night, according to CNN affiliate WMUR.

State police were deployed to the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College due to “illegal activity and at the request of local law enforcement,” the New Hampshire Department of Safety told CNN.

Video from WMUR shows police pulling protesters one-by-one from the crowd gathered on the Dartmouth Green and detaining them with zip ties.

Protesters can be heard chanting “Free Palestine” while holding banners and flags.

The crowd appears to be a mix of students and members of the community, WMUR says.

At least 16 people were arrested Wednesday night after a pro-Palestine protest at the University at Buffalo's North Campus, including students and "other individuals not affiliated with the University at Buffalo," the school said in a release.

Those people were arrested after being "advised of, and failing to comply, with an order to disperse for a violation of UB’s Picketing and Assembling Policy that prohibits encampments and overnight assemblies," the release reads.

"A few individuals" attempted to resist arrest, and two officers were assaulted, the release reads.

In an earlier release, the university said its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine originally organized a march at the North Campus on Wednesday. 

Around 50 people, including students and others not affiliated with the university, continued to protest into Wednesday evening, the university said.

Many left the area after warnings from university police to disperse at dusk, but others were arrested outside of Hochstetter Hall, the university said.

The university said it recognizes and respects the right to protest but emphasized that overnight assemblies and indoor and outdoor encampments are prohibited.

Five tents were previously placed on campus but were removed by protesters after they were advised by university staff and police, according to the university.

Law enforcement has declared an unlawful assembly for a pro-Palestinian encampment at the university's quad, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN. 

Declaring a gathering unlawful is a step police typically take before ordering individuals to disperse or face arrest.

CNN witnessed more than 100 law enforcement officers from various agencies entering the campus Wednesday, including a stream of officers wearing riot helmets and carrying zip ties.

Aerial video from CNN affiliate KABC shows dozens of police vehicles and a law enforcement mobile command post gathered at the FBI's Los Angeles field office parking lot, which is approximately one mile from the UCLA encampment. 

Hundreds of people had gathered outside the encampment Wednesday evening, most appearing to be seated on the ground across from the entrance to the camp, the aerial footage shows. Inside the encampment, more than 80 tents lined the grass as people busily wove through the area.

By around 8:30 p.m., a growing line of LAPD officers had formed between the encampment and the outside group of protesters, according to a CNN crew on the scene.

Officials continue to survey damage from several buildings and grounds at the City College of New York after demonstrators smashed glass doors, graffitied walls and ransacked public property Tuesday night, officials said.

The City College of New York is the founding institution of CUNY and is home to eight schools and divisions, according to the school’s website.

Remember: About 300 protesters were arrested overnight Tuesday at Columbia University and City College of New York, officials said Wednesday.

CNN’s Zenebou Sylla contributed to this report.

The University of Arizona said Wednesday that “law enforcement had little choice but to take significant measures” after protesters engaged in “dangerous actions” while officials tried dispersing them.

While trying to move protesters, law enforcement made "minimal use" of pepper balls and rubber bullets and wore tactical safety gear “to disperse the crowd and to protect themselves and others while clearing the area,” according to Robbins. 

Robbins said police ultimately arrested one undergraduate student, a graduate student and two people unaffiliated with the university. 

There were no significant injuries that the school is aware of, Robbins said. 

The NYPD has supplied the names of those arrested inside Columbia University's Hamilton Hall to school authorities.

They will check against their records to determine how many of those inside the building were students and how many were not, according to two law enforcement sources.

About 300 protesters were arrested overnight Tuesday at Columbia University and City College after officers cleared encampments and an occupied building. 

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik addressed the campus community in a letter released Wednesday, noting that the "drastic escalation" of protests "pushed the University to the brink."

The Dean of Columbia University Journalism School said in a memo to students that discussions are ongoing about what will happen with graduation, the ongoing NYPD presence on campus and the university’s next steps in light of Tuesday night’s events.

Columbia is holding final exams but going fully remote for any exams on the university's main campus, according to a letter sent to students.

Journalists tasked with covering violent unrest on college campuses across the US have been assaulted, arrested and barred access as police moved in to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters who set up encampments and barricaded themselves inside buildings.

On some college campuses, access has been restricted to students only, effectively making student journalists the only reliable news media reporting on the protests and clashes.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, reporters for the student-run newspaper The Daily Bruin said they were violently attacked during clashes Tuesday night, including being followed, slapped and sprayed with irritants, the newspaper said. Student Editor Anna Dai-Liu told CNN she was gassed, and other student reporters were assaulted, with one reporter being taken to emergency care.

The newspaper did not state who assaulted the student journalists, but the violence came as counterprotesters, some of whom were supporting Israel, clashed with pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Hundreds of miles away at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, three journalists were detained while covering campus protests, according to a local public radio outlet, including a television news reporter who was arrested while filming the demonstrations.

At Columbia University in New York, journalists said they were barred from covering the unrest Tuesday night as police officers in riot gear breached an academic building where demonstrators were barricaded, resulting in more than 100 arrests.