SummaryIt’s 11pm in Los Angeles where protesters at UCLA are in a tense standoff with police. Here’s how things stand:
Law enforcement officers have massed by the hundreds on the campus of the University of California, in preparation to clear out a pro-Palestinian protest camp. Protesters at UCLA have been told to disperse or face arrest. Throughout the evening, hundreds have rallied to the campus in support of the protesters.
The order to disperse at UCLA came less than 24 hours after violent clashes between the encampment’s occupants and a group of masked counter-demonstrators who mounted an assault on the tent city with sticks and poles.
Police gather on the UCLA campus near an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Photograph: Ryan Sun/AP University police have come under criticism for the speed of their response to the violence at UCLA on Tuesday night, with a spokesperson for California governor Gavin Newsom saying outside law enforcement was sent to the campus after “unacceptable” delays in the university’s police force response to the clashes.
US authorities have expanded their efforts to shut down campus protests across the country, after demonstrations at Columbia University and City College of New York were broken up on Tuesday evening. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, confirmed that 280 people on the two New York campuses were arrested on Tuesday.
At Tulane University, New Orleans officers with guns drawn cleared an encampment local media reported. At least 14 protesters were arrested.
Fordham University students and pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of one of the entrances to the Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters Police at the University of Arizona in Tucson fired “non-lethal” chemical weapons at protesters as arrests were made, the Arizona Daily Star reported, adding that at least one protester was hit with a rubber bullet.
At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, police tore down tents after a fierce standoff and detained a number of protesters, mostly students.
The University of Texas in Dallas confirmed that 17 protesters were arrested on its campus, with the police operation involving dozens of state troopers in riot gear.
New York police broke up an encampment at Fordham University. Officers detained pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating inside one of the university’s buildings, putting demonstrators hands into zip ties behind their backs.
The protest movement that emerged from US campuses has continued to spread around the world. In the UK, protests took place in at least six universities with others expected to follow suit. Students at four Australian universities have said they are committed to permanently occupying university land until their demands for divestment are met.