Police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters at USC, UT-Austin and Emerson College

Texas State Troopers on horseback work to disperse pro-Palestinian students protesting the Israel-Hamas war on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin on Wednesday.
Suzanne Cordeiro | AFP via Getty Images

Updated: 12:17 p.m.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations continue to permeate colleges and universities across the country, as protests broke out at the University of Southern California and The University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, prompting a strong police response and dozens of arrests on the campuses.

Boston police also broke up an encampment at Emerson College early Thursday morning, arresting over 100 protesters in the process.

Here are the developments as of Thursday:

Boston police broke up an Emerson College encampment

Boston police tore down a pro-Palestinian encampment at Emerson College in the early morning hours, clashing with protesters and ultimately taking more than 100 into custody.

Turn Up Your Support

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.

Emerson College students had been camping since Sunday night in Boston's Boylston Place Alley.

President Jay Bernhardt warned earlier this week that the alley is not solely owned by the college and has a "public right-of-way requirement to access non-Emerson buildings, including the State Transportation Center, and is a fire alley that is under the jurisdiction of the Boston Police Department."

In a Wednesday update, college officials said fire and police commissioners had informed them that some of the protesters' actions amounted to noise violations and fire hazards "in direct violation of city ordinances, which could result in imminent law enforcement action."

They said Emerson had also received "credible reports that some protesters are engaging in targeted harassment and intimidation of Jewish supporters of Israel and students, staff, faculty, and neighbors seeking to pass through the alley."

Local media report that police announced just after 1 a.m. Thursday that anyone in the alley would be arrested; officers entered the area about an hour later. Footage posted to social media shows protesters linking arms and raising umbrellas to try to form a wall against police, who start grabbing and pulling them out of the crowd.

"The big vans, they came in, they parked right in front of this alleyway and the cops came up and they started arresting students, forcing their way into the encampment and everything, pushing students to the ground," Emerson sophomore Kyle Graff told NBC Boston. "I saw one student get shoved into the pavement and their hands forced to be put behind them."

NBC Boston reports that police cleared the alley within 30 minutes.

Boston Police Department spokesperson Sgt. John Boyle told local media that 108 people were arrested and are expected to be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court. He said four police officers were injured, one seriously.

Several other Boston-area schools, including MIT and Tufts, have set up similar encampments. Harvard students set up tents in Harvard Yard — which is temporarily closed to the public — on Wednesday.

Los Angeles police arrested 93 for trespassing

University of Southern California protesters push and shove University Public Safety officers as tempers get heated during a pro-Palestinian occupation on the University of Southern California campus on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Richard Vogel | AP

"There is significant activity at the center of the UPC campus due to a demonstration. There may be difficulty accessing that area," USC posted to X late Wednesday morning.

In subsequent updates, the school told people to avoid the center of campus, referred to as University Park Campus (UPC), and that if they were to come to that area, they would need to show their student IDs at the gates.

The UPC area was closed down later in the evening. The Los Angeles Police Department said it showed up at about 4 p.m. Pacific Time, and had arrested 93 people by 10 p.m. for trespassing, a misdemeanor offense. One arrest was made for assault with a deadly weapon, though the department did not specify the weapon that was used.

No injuries were reported, and LAPD will continue patrolling the area into Thursday, it said.

"The university is a private campus, and the group had been violating some of their orders, and it was a trespass at that point, and we assisted with those arrests," LAPD Cpt. Kelly Muniz said.

The protests follow the school's decision last week to cancel the commencement speech for valedictorian Asna Tabassum, who posted pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content on her social media. The school said it scrapped the speech for safety reasons.

Texas state troopers responded to protests in riot gear

At The University of Texas at Austin, hundreds of people protested in support of Palestinians. University officers and Texas state troopers responded to the scene in riot gear, and arrested dozens of students who did not leave the area, according to NPR member station KUT.

"Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted on X. "These protesters belong in jail. Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled."

UT Austin President Jay Hartzell commended the school and law enforcement for showing "extraordinary restraint," and said the organizers of the protest intended to violate school policies.

"The group that led this protest stated it was going to violate Institutional Rules," Hartzell said. "Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our University will not be occupied. The protesters tried to deliver on their stated intent to occupy campus. People not affiliated with UT joined them, and many ignored University officials' continual pleas for restraint and to immediately disperse."

Pro-Palestinian protests are spreading across the country

Students at Cornell University and George Washington University set up solidarity encampments on Thursday morning, the latest in a fast-growing list of such campus demonstrations.

For weeks, students at major colleges and universities across the country — including Yale, Vanderbilt, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, New York University and Columbia University — have been protesting in support of Palestinians and have faced repercussions, such as arrests and expulsions.

Columbia University has twice extended its deadline — originally midnight on Tuesday — for students to clear their campus encampment.

Officials first delayed the deadline until Wednesday morning, and said later in the day that they would continue conversations for another 48 hours in light of "constructive dialogue" with student representatives.

They said student protesters had committed to removing "a significant number of tents," clearing non-Columbia protesters from the area, complying with fire department requirements and prohibiting harassing and discriminatory language.

House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia on Wednesday and called on President Nemat Shafik to resign.

"I'm here joining my colleagues and calling on President Shafik to resign if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos," he said during a press conference on campus, in which he was joined by other members of Congress. "As Speaker of the House, I'm committing today that the Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are expected to run for their lives and stay home from their classes hiding in fear."

Columbia's board of trustees said it "strongly supports President Shafik as she steers the university through this extraordinarily challenging time."