As courses cover up for the quarter and schools prepare for undergraduate ceremonies, pro-Palestinian student protesters from colleges around the US were asked to clean out tent encampments with rising levels of intensity on Monday.
At a number of colleges, rallies were still taking place. Activists at an encampment near George Washington University broke the restrictions that were used to secure University Yard on Monday and removed them. On Sunday afternoon, nearly a year after authorities detained roughly 50 protesters and cleared a similar station, demonstrators at Yale University set up a new station with lots of houses.
At least one university, the University of Southern California, cancelled its principal graduation ceremony this spring. In order to have their rites held, some people are asking for peace during the rallies to end. During duelling presentations Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles, activists from both flanks of the rabid conversation yelled and shoved each other.
About 275 people were arrested Saturday at several schools, including Indiana University at Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St. Louis. Since New York police removed a pro-Palestine opposition camp at Columbia University and made more than 100 arrests on April 18, there have been more than 900 arrests nationwide.
Schools have cited property damage, inside provocateurs, racist expressions or merely failures to accept warnings as reasons to assault students. Despite having a lack of supporting evidence, some college leaders have insisted that students are stoking the clashes. A notable exception to this is at Washington University on Saturday, where protesters have frequently been students and university people. Of the 100 arrests made, just 23 were kids and four were staff, the university said Sunday.
