Scores arrested as pro-Palestine protests continue on US campuses

By Seda Sevencan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Protests continue at colleges and universities across the US over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, with arrests reported on Saturday by two more schools.

At least 25 protesters were arrested at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for trespassing following police intervention to disperse a pro-Palestine encampment on campus.

“A pro-Palestinian protest on (university) Grounds came to an end Saturday after University, local and state police cleared the area following multiple and repeated violations of several University policies, including the use of tents and amplified sound. Subsequent violent conduct along with failure to follow law-enforcement directions led to the declaration of an unlawful assembly,” the university said.

“Before Saturday’s standoff with law enforcement, which resulted in 25 arrests as of Saturday evening, the demonstration that began on Tuesday had been peaceful and complied with University policies,” it added.

Separately, as many as 50 people were arrested at the Art Institute of Chicago, according to the school.

"Today, a group of individuals, including some SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) students, began a protest in the museum's North Garden, and as it progressed, protesters surrounded and shoved a security officer and stole their keys to the museum, blocked emergency exits, and barricaded gates. The protest also began to escalate on Michigan Avenue outside of the museum."

The university offered the demonstrators an alternative location to continue their protest on campus, but they rejected it, according to the statement.

"During multiple rounds of negotiations, SAIC student protesters were promised amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they agreed to relocate. The School also agreed to meet with a student group to discuss their demands. After approximately five hours, an agreement could not be reached."

The arrests and crackdowns come amid a wave of US university student protests in support of Palestine that began last month, over six months into the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 34,000 people, along with a blockade that has thrown the besieged enclave into famine conditions.