USC cancels main commencement ceremony as hundreds arrested at pro-Palestine protests across US colleges: Live

Students at City College in Harlem, New York, have joined protesters at institutions across the city and the nation, erecting their own Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

Demonstrators forced back officers from the City University of New York police who tried to enter the encampment. Chants of “I believe that we will win, could be heard” as well as cheers following the officers’ retreat.

Columbia University has announced that will continue to enhance campus security ahead of further anticipated demonstrations, and amid ongoing negotiations between staff and students.

At a short press briefing on Thursday afternoon Ben Chang, vice president for communications and spokesperson for Columbia, said that extra measures in place would include an increased NYPD presence around the campus and along its perimeter.

Students will continue to require ID to access the campus, and “safety escorts” for all Columbia students were available, Mr Chang said.

He said that a formal negotiation process between students organisers and faculty members was ongoing, adding that the institution hoped the discussions are successfull “otherwise we have to consider options for restoring calm to campus”.

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having worked at some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions.

It remains to be seen, however, if her experience with world conflicts has sufficiently equipped her to navigate the thorny challenges she faces amid ongoing student protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr released a statement today calling Gaza protests “antisemitic” — parroting a frequent talking point used by Republicans to denounce the demonstrations — and said the students had no legal right to shut down the school.

“We will proudly stand by any university that takes action to protect the health and safety of Georgia’s students,” Mr Carr said on social media. “Nobody has the legal right to shut down our schools by camping out and making antisemitic threats.”

At least two Emory University professors were arrested, while protesters were tased — even while restrained — and shot with pepper balls by law enforcement officers.

A spokesperson for the State Department said in a statement on Thursday that the Biden administration was aware of the ongoing Gaza demonstrations on US campuses, and that it supports the right to peacefully protest.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that Secretary of State Antony Blinken “absolutely” was aware of the protests and the demands being made by students.

He said that “harmful rhetoric, rhetoric whether it be rooted in antisemitism, Islamophobia, is incredibly problematic and needs to be condemned and called out”.

“We, of course, support the right of anybody to peacefully protest, to demonstrate, to make their voices heard, to express themselves in a peaceful and nonviolent way,” Mr Patel said .“But we’re also not naive to the fact that when it comes to any of the foreign policy that we pursue, 100% of the population is not going to agree with what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar visited student protesters at Columbia University on Thursday.

She was accompanied by her daughter, Isra Hirsi, who was arrested on 18 April while protesting at the embankment and has been suspended from Barnard College as a result.

The University of Southern California has announced it will not hold its main 2024 graduation ceremony amid pro-Palestone protests on campus and criticism over a previously canceled student speaker.

The institution announced the decision on Thursday after protestors clashed with campus security and police on Wednesday. More than 90 protesters were arrested during the demonstrations.

USC’s 2024 commencement ceremony was scheduled for 10 May. The university said it will still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school commencement ceremonies where students cross a stage and receive their diplomas.

George Washington University president Ellen M Granberg issued a statement saying DC Metropolitan Police were called to remove an “unauthorised protest encampment” on the campus.

“The encampment, unlike some demonstrations in the past, is an unauthorized use of university space at this location and violated several university policies,” Ms Granberg said in a statement. “The decision to request MPD assistance came after multiple instructions made by GWPD to relocate to an alternative demonstration site on campus went unheeded by encampment participants.”

The University of Southern California has reportedly cancelled its commencement ceremony a day after students began protesting for Gaza on its campus in Los Angeles.

“With the new safety measures in place this year, the time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially,” the school wrote in a statement. “As a result, we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus all at the same time and during a short window from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.”