Student protests against the war in Gaza and US military support for Israel are increasing in strength at several American universities.
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At Columbia University, management gave hundreds of demonstrating students until midnight to leave, and at California State Polytechnic University dozens of students blocked entrances.
– We are not afraid of you, shouted the students when riot police pushed them into the buildings. An unknown number of students have now barricaded themselves there.
Students across the United States are demanding that American educational institutions cut their financial ties to Israel, including by withdrawing any investments they may have in companies that sell weapons to the country.
In several places, the demonstrations have ended in clashes with the police and arrests.
At New York University, 133 students were arrested on Monday, and at Yale University in Connecticut, 47 students and 13 others were arrested when they refused to leave the campus.
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Last week, over a hundred students were arrested at Columbia University, and at the University of Minnesota, nine protesters were arrested when police cleared a tent camp they had set up.
Outside the University of Michigan, a protest camp now has more than 40 tents, while Harvard University in Massachusetts has taken its precautions, locking the gates and tightening access control.
The university’s management has also put up posters with warnings against demonstrating.
