Pro-Palestinian encampments have started on more than a dozen American college campuses, including New York University (NYU), Yale University and Columbia University. Dozens of students have been arrested or suspended for participating in these protests.
On Monday night, the NYPD arrested more than 100 protesters at NYU, including faculty—who formed a human chain around the encampment to protect students. Law enforcement charged students with trespassing after they set up the encampment outside the Stern School of Business.
“It was extremely violent; (police) started to throw lawn furniture,” says an NYU graduate student, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation from the university. The student says encampments have “spread like wildfire” after Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, invited cops onto campus. “Definitely, Columbia was the precedent,” the student adds. The NYU encampment has since been cleared by law enforcement.
Others are ongoing. Antiwar protesters have started encampments at UC Berkeley, UNC Chapel Hill, Washington University in Saint Louis, University of Michigan, The New School, MIT, Emerson College, Tufts University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Rochester, the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland.
Some Jewish students have said they feel unsafe on college campuses with encampments. A few have staged counter-protests, although they have been much smaller. Other Jewish students are part of the protest movement. Student organizers have denied antisemitism allegations. Protesters’ primary demand is that their universities divest from companies that benefit from the Israeli occupation. The cost of waiting is too high, they say.
Here are photos from the encampments:
New York University students set up a “Liberated Zone” tent encampment in Gould Plaza at NYU Stern School of Business on April 22, 2024.Michael M. Santiago—Getty ImagesYale students and protesters sing and rally chants as they block the intersection of College Street and Grove Street, outside Woolsey Hall, in New Haven, Conn., on April 22, 2024.Aaron Flaum—Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service/Getty ImagesA coalition of University of Michigan students rally at an encampment to pressure the university to divest its endowment from companies that support Israel or could profit from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, on the University of Michigan college campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., on April 22, 2024.Rebecca Cook—ReutersPro-Palestinian protesters gather in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024.Justin Sullivan—Getty ImagesPeople pray as New York University students set up a tent encampment in Gould Plaza at NYU Stern School of Business on April 22, 2024.Michael M. Santiago—Getty ImagesPolice intervene and arrest more than 100 students at New York University who continue their demonstration on campus in solidarity with the students at Columbia University and to oppose Israel’s attacks on Gaza, on April 22, 2024.Fatih Aktas—Anadolu/Getty ImagesNYPD officers face protesters after detaining demonstrators and clearing an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian students and protesters on the campus of New York University, on April 22, 2024.Alex Kent—AFP/Getty ImagesPro-Palestinian protesters gather at a street intersection at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., on April 22, 2024.Adrian Martinez Chavez—The New York Times/ReduxPro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024.Justin Sullivan—Getty ImagesPro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests continue outside the gates of Columbia University, and inside the campus, in New York City, on April 22, 2024.Mark Peterson—ReduxProtestors occupy an encampment in support of Palestine on the grounds of Columbia University on April 22, 2024.David Dee Delgado—Getty ImagesStudents erect a line in front of pro-Israel students to protect a large pro-Palestine picket at Columbia University, on April 18, 2024.Nina Berman—Redux
