Six people have been arrested and suspensions have been imposed on seven students who participated in demonstrations at Tulane University, the New Orleans school said in a message to the university community early Wednesday. One suspension was still pending, officials said.
The university also investigated reports from university employees who participated in the demonstration.
“We value freedom of expression and have supported numerous legal demonstrations throughout the year,” the university said in the statement. “But we remain opposed to transgressions, hate speech, anti-Semitism and prejudice against religious or ethnic groups.”
Four buildings on campus would remain closed Wednesday as the demonstration continued, with classes in those buildings taking place remotely, officials said.
As several dozen protesters camped out Monday in a dozen small tents on a lawn near an administration building, police “immediately intervened to try to stop the camp,” the government said Tuesday. Arrests were made and students were suspended after a confrontation with police on Monday, and the Students for a Democratic Society organization was also suspended, the university said.
Currently:
– Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University as clashes erupt at UCLA
– Student demonstrators reach a deal with Northwestern University, which draws criticism from all sides
– Trump’s comparison of student protests to January 6 is part of efforts to downplay the attack on the Capitol
Here’s the latest:
Dueling groups of protesters clashed at the University of California, Los Angeles on Wednesday, fistfighting and pushing each other, using kicks and sticks to hit each other.
Hours earlier, police carrying riot shields stormed a Columbia University building that pro-Palestinian protesters had taken over, breaking up a demonstration that paralyzed the school and inspired others.
After a few hours of clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields formed lines and slowly separated the groups. That seemed to quell the violence.
Police have swept through campuses across the US over the past two weeks in response to protests calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza. Confrontations have taken place and more than a thousand arrests have been made. On rarer occasions, university officials and protest leaders entered into agreements to limit disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
