On Saturday, riot police raided three universities in the United States, arresting over 200 protesters and removing tent camps and banners that had been set up.
At Northeastern University in Boston, around 100 protesters were arrested after the university’s management called the police.
The outsiders reportedly joined the students protesting Israel’s warfare in Gaza, and according to an announcement from the university, anti-Semitic slogans such as “Kill the Jews” were shouted.
At Arizona State University, 69 protesters were arrested after setting up a tent camp that they refused to remove.
At Indiana University, 23 students were arrested after baton-wielding riot police attacked protesters holding hands and forming a human chain, according to the local student newspaper.
Banned
In the past week, riot police have also been deployed against students at a number of other universities in the USA where the protests against the war in Gaza and the US arms support for Israel are increasing in strength.
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Maryam Alwan thought the worst was over after she and others who had set up a Gaza solidarity camp at Columbia University in New York were arrested and bundled into police buses.
After a few hours in custody, the students were released, but the following evening Alwan received an email from the university stating that she was temporarily banned as a result of the incident.
It is a tactic that a number of other universities have also adopted in recent weeks, in an attempt to end the student protests against the Gaza war.
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Strong reactions
The bans on students who use their freedom of speech and demonstrate against the war provoke strong reactions in the United States.
Several question whether universities have the legal authority to remove protesters and ban students who have participated in protests.
Arrests on the roll can have consequences for those concerned, and the students’ academic future is also affected by them being denied entry to universities.
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Those banned also risk losing study support and it is unclear whether they will have the opportunity to sit the exam.
Dilemma
The widespread student protests, which began at Columbia University almost two weeks ago, have created a dilemma for the management of many universities trying to find a balance between freedom of expression and accusations of anti-Semitism.
Images of baton-wielding riot police using pepper spray and stun guns against peaceful protesters remind many of the widespread protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s.
So do the mass arrests and images of students being taken away in police buses.
Slogan
On Friday, a protest camp at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia was removed, also there after accusations that some of the demonstrators had shouted anti-Semitic slogans.
Large police forces have also cracked down on protesters at Yale University in Connecticut, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of Minnesota.
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The same has happened at universities in states such as California, Georgia and Texas, which has prompted teachers and professors to promote motions of no confidence against the management.
Serious consequences
For foreign students, the risks of participating in protests against the Gaza war are extra large. They risk losing their residence permit in the US, says lawyer Radhika Sainath.
She is associated with the group Palestine Legal, which has assisted a group of Columbia University students who have filed a federal lawsuit against the university.
– The level of punishment is not only draconian, it feels like excessive callousness, says Sainath.
At Yale University, over 40 students were arrested a few days ago, among them Craig Birckhead-Morton, who is scheduled to take his exam on 20 May. Now he is banned, waiting for an answer and does not know if it can be done.
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– They have done their best to overlook us and do not tell us what is going to happen, he says.
Deports
The California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt has decided to remain closed for the rest of the semester because, according to management, demonstrating students have tried to break into buildings there.
Vanderbilt University has expelled three students for good, while others have been temporarily expelled and many are allowed to continue “on probation”.
Over 150 professors at the university have protested against what they call “excessive punishments” and defend the students’ freedom of expression.
