Chicago: Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday as tension ratcheted up in standoffs with demonstrators at other college campuses around the US — and increasingly, in Europe.
Nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University, the Rhode Island School of Design held talks with protesters occupying a building, and MIT dealt with a new encampment on a site that was cleared but immediately retaken by demonstrators.
The confrontations come as campuses try a range of strategies, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war and clear the way for commencements.
At the University of Chicago, protesters numbering in the several hundreds had gathered in an area known as the Quad for at least eight days. Campus administrators warned them Friday to leave the area or face removal. Police in riot gear blocked access to the Quad on Tuesday as law enforcement dismantled the encampment. At MIT, protesters were given a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza break.
Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a ceasefire, said that the group has been at the encampment for two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing in Gaza.
“Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defence,” he said.
No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to the MIT spokesperson.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said that the school affirms students’ rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and that it supports all members of its community. The RISD president and provost were on site meeting with the demonstrators, the spokesperson said.
The student protests have spread to Europe, where they are gaining momentum. Police arrested about 125 activists early Tuesday as they broke up a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Amsterdam. Students also have held protests or set up camps in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Britain.