Columbia, Harvard, Emory: How protests against the war in Gaza spread to major US universities.

Protests calling on universities to boycott companies and individuals with ties to Israel amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip have spread across college campuses across the United States.

Tensions have risen at universities in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and some 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli authorities.

That served as a trigger for the current war in which the Israeli military offensive has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.

The Columbia University in New York was the first where camping and protests were recorded, but have since broken out in other parts of the country.

On campuses in Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia, students were arrested for protesting.

Also on the Austin campus, in Texas, whose governor ordered the state police to arrest the protesters.

Although there are ongoing protests on more than twenty campuses, there are universities where the phenomenon is greater.

Columbia University was the first to have a major pro-Palestinian encampment on its campus. Also one of the first to be accused of anti-Semitism.

Last week they were more than 100 protesters arrested after the rector of that university, Nemat Shafik, asked the police to clear the protest site.

His request came after giving congressional testimony about the university’s response to alleged anti-Semitism on campus.

But the mass arrests, far from calming spirits, have galvanized the movement, according to the protesters who remained in the place a week later.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was arrested in Columbia, told BBC News on Thursday that the movement started with a few students but spread quickly due to mass arrests.

“This is a movement that started with just 70 students. And because Columbia University decided to crack down on them and violate their First Amendment, this has spread nationally and internationally,” he told BBC News.

In the case of Emory University, in Atlanta (Georgia), there were dozens of protesters who, without being affiliated with that centerset up shop in tents on campus early Thursday morning, the center said in a statement.

According to the center, the group of intruders was later joined by members of the university community.

When protesters refused to disperse, the Emory Police Department “detained several dozen people,” although the statement did not clarify exactly how many people there were or what charges they might face.

At the University of Southern California it was decided to cancel the graduation speech given each year by the best student and, immediately afterwards, graduation ceremony was canceled main scheduled for May 10. The ceremony was expected to draw about 65,000 people to campus.

All of this sparked widespread outrage on campus.

The valedictorian, chosen for her high grades and involvement in university life, posted a link to a website critical of Israel, leading to accusations of anti-Semitism.

For its part, the university said the cancellation of both the speech and the event was due to unspecified threats to campus security and did not condemn the student’s post.

The decision infuriated both pro- and anti-Israel protesters.

The pro-Palestinians asked the best student, who is Muslim, to give her speech.

Pro-Israel students asked the school to condemn his posts.

On Wednesday, the center called the Los Angeles police and arrested 93 people.

At George Washington University in Washington, DC, protest camps began to set up on Thursday.

The campus, in the northwest of the city, is normally quiet, but there are now at least 20 tents.

The setting up of camp came as hundreds of students and faculty marched from Georgetown University to George Washington University.

At nearby American University, a group of students set up a protest camp in front of the university’s chancellor’s office.

In this case, no people have been arrested yet.

Not so at the University of Texas at Austin, where police said they arrested 57 people Wednesday night. In fact, agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety were seen dressed with riot gear and on a motorcycle to push back the protesters.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who called the police, posted on X that the protests are anti-Semitic and called for the expulsion of the protesting students.

State Democrats accused him of using mass arrests as an “electoral demand”.

The state National Guard issued a statement denying that it had been mobilized to make arrests on campus.

“While the Texas National Guard was aware and prepared to respond to protests yesterday, no soldiers were sent to campus during the event,” the Texas Military Department said in a statement.

He added that the force is prepared to “respond if requested.”

On Monday, police arrested 120 people who set up a makeshift camp on the New York University campus in midtown Manhattan.

All but four of those arrested are charged with criminal trespass.

At Harvard University, which is located in the state of Massachusetts, people also gathered to camp starting Wednesday, after the university administration suspended the Harvard Undergraduate Palestinian Solidarity Committee student group.

Harvard’s president has not ruled out asking the police to intervene, although no arrests have yet been made.

Although these are the main places where there are protests, at least in another twenty centers, even in some secondary schools from the United States, there are demonstrations.

For example, in Boston, 108 people were arrested at Emerson College early Thursday morning, prompting that university to cancel classes. Four police officers were injured during the protest.

In Connecticut, protests continue at Yale University, even after 48 people were arrested Wednesday. All but four of those arrested were Yale students.

On Tuesday, Seattle-area high school students walked out of classes in protest against the war. New Jersey school officials sternly warned high school students not to participate in the walkout planned for Friday.

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