Police at UCLA clear anti-Israel encampment, make over 130 arrests

University of Southern California students who were arrested for criminal trespassing on April 24 during the anti-Israel protest will be referred to the school’s “disciplinary process,” according to an email Thursday night sent by the university.

There were 93 arrests at USC last week, of which 51 were students and 36 not being students there.

The email sent to the students said the university was “notified that you were arrested by the LAPD for criminal trespassing” in Alumni Park as the USC Department of Public Safety “cleared an encampment that violated university policy.”

“You will have an opportunity to participate in the process and we will take every effort to resolve the case expeditiously and with care,” the email stated, according to The Daily Trojan, the school’s student newspaper.

The email went on to say that any further violations of university policies — camping, amplified sound, defying DPS directives, vandalism, harassment, bullying and theft — are subject to further discipline that could include expulsion or a ban from campus.

Students who believe they received the email in error, or if they weren’t actually arrested, are urged to respond to the email immediately to dispute it.

Anti-Israel protesters at the University of North Florida who ignored a 10 p.m. deadline to leave campus Thursday night in Jacksonville were quickly surrounded by police and then handcuffed.

The UNF students stayed beyond the 10 p.m. deadline during a protest for divestment from Israel. They are seen sitting on the lawn in front of a building in this video chanting "Free, free, Palestine" and other usual chants heard during protests on campuses around the country. The couple of dozen protesters are then surrounded by a dozen Jacksonville Sheriff's Officers (JSO) riding bicycles and donning helmets, face guards and gas masks.

Then, a group of about 30 more JSO officers wearing riot gear approach the group. Each of the protesters eventually held their hands in the air as JSO officers arrested them with zip ties, one by one.

There was no incident and the scene cleared relatively quickly. The arrested protesters were hauled away in a van. The amount of those arrested is at least a dozen.

Administrators at Vassar College this week gladly welcomed a group of students to have a peaceful protest on campus. Certain conditions had to be met for their pro-Palestine demonstration, though.

1. It could be held only for Vassar students
2. The protest could only be held with a certain perimeter on campus
3. There was no harassment of other students, faculty or administrators

Two days after the protest began, the administration is now ordering the protesters to disassemble their camp and end their demonstrartion.

"On Wednesday, several actions altered the situation. Students used social media to invite people unaffiliated with Vassar to campus to support the demonstrators. Although for much of the day the students engaged in discussion and peaceful protest within the perimeter of the tented area, in the afternoon a substantial group, including people who we believe are not members of the Vassar community, protested for about ninety minutes," Vassar College President Elizabeth H. Bradley wrote in an email obtained by Fox News Digital.

The school president said the protests has begun impeding the Library Lawn and that safety of students and administrators has been brought into question.

"For both these reasons, I will ask the demonstrators to voluntarily remove the encampment promptly, before large groups of external parties may come to our campus. I look forward to discussing and assisting in these next steps," Bradley stated.

Bradley said several deans of the college met with protest leaders four times over the last two days to hash out an agreement, but that these talks failed and now Vassar is calling for them to disembark.

A driver with no plates pulled up to a crowd outside a library at Portland State University in Oregon Thursday afternoon, then got out and targeted people with pepper spray before fleeing on foot.

Footage of the chaotic scene shows a vehicle appear to start accelerating toward the crowd, prompting people to scream and try to get out of its way. The driver can be seen abandoning his car as some attempted to capture him.

The crowd vandalized the abandoned car, smashing the windows and spray painting “Free Palestine” on the side. 

Portland State University Police located the driver, an adult male, and took him to a local hospital on a police mental health hold.

A gun was reportedly fired by an NYPD officer inside Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, as police worked to remove anti-Israel agitators from the building on Tuesday night, the Associated Press reported.

A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed the incident to the AP. 

Doug Cohen, a spokesperson for Bragg's office, said no one was injured and that there were only officers nearby when the gun was fired. Cohen said no students were in the immediate vicinity of the area. 

Bragg's office is conducting a review of the incident, Cohen added. No further details about the incident were immediately available. 

This is an excerpt of a story by Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price. Click here to read the full story.

Anti-Israel protesters have agreed to disband their encampment at Rutgers University-New Brunswick after administrators meet with demonstrators and agreed to eight of their 10 demands.

“We are pleased to report that these students have agreed to peacefully end their protest. They have committed to removing their tents and belongings, effectively clearing Voorhees Mall,” Chancellor Francine Conway said in a statement. “This process began before the 4 p.m. deadline and is currently underway.”

Among the list of demands the university agreed to were accepting 10 displaced Gaza students to study at Rutgers on a scholarship, hire professors specializing in Palestine studies and Middle East studies, and provide full amnesty for students who were “penalized for exercising their first amendment right to protest Rutgers University’s support for Israeli human rights violations.”

The university would not agree to divest from firms tied to Israel or terminate its partnership with Tel Aviv University

Anti-Israel protesters at the School of Visual Arts in New York City have issued a set of demands from their school amid ongoing demonstrations.

The list of demands, laid out by the Students for Justice in Palestine, demand “complete financial transparency and divestment from ‘Israeli’ companies.”

The group also demands that the school and its president issue a public statement “condemning the genocide in Gaza and the ‘Israeli’ aggression.”

The group demands that the school cut ties with Hillel International – a worldwide Jewish campus organization – and any other “Zionist Institutions.”

The group also demands that the school “protect student speech and organizing on campus.”

Authorities in New York arrested 74 people this week in connection with anti-Israel protests at two universities, prosecutors said Thursday.

In addition to the people arrested -- 46 at Columbia University and 28 at the City College of New York -- there are 16 outstanding desk appearance tickets that are returnable this month, the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.

At Columbia, the protesters were arrested on suspicion of third-degree criminal trespass. At CUNY, 22 people were arrested and charged with third-degree burglary and obstructing governmental administration. Another five were arraigned for second-degree assault.

They were all released.

Another person was arraigned for a misdemeanor forth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges, authorities said.

Video taken from New York City police officers' body-worn cameras shows authorities forcing their way inside a Columbia University building this week that had been overtaken by anti-Israel protesters.

The video shows the moment NYPD officers wearing protective gear breached Hamilton Hall on Tuesday night where the protesters had barricaded themselves inside. 

The bodycam footage shows the officers using a tool to open a front door of the building, which had multiple chairs stacked against it from the inside.

Once inside, the officers encountered a man-made barrier of what appeared to be furniture that required a saw to cut through. Protesters are heard from the outside chanting "Free, free Palestine!"

At one point, an officer says "Let's deploy a flashbang (grenade)," which was followed by a series of loud bangs. After cutting through the barrier, officers came into contact with protesters sitting inside a room where they were detained. 

A group of counter-protesters chanted “USA! USA” at a group of anti-Israel agitators while carrying the American flag on the campus of Rutgers University on Thursday.

The pro-Palestine crowd chanted back: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Faculty and other supporters, rushed to create a human wall, shouting: “Link up! Link up!”

At a certain point, the counter protesters broke out into singing the National Anthem.

Protesters agreed Thursday afternoon to take down encampments after “fruitful” negotiations with administrators.

The school has reportedly agreed to meet with its endowment board and begin the process of divesting from companies that are connected to Israel – reflecting demands from protesters across campuses nationwide.

A high-ranking NYPD chief has ripped a "defund the police" radical New York City lawmaker who he accused of hating the city and being a "colossal disgrace" after she slammed the force for dismantling the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University on Tuesday.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell on Wednesday responded to a post by socialist City Councilor Tiffany Cabán, who panned the police for arresting students who had illegally occupied an academic hall at the university. Police engaged in an operation to detain those who were self-barricaded inside late Tuesday.

Cabán, who labeled the agitators as "trailblazing leaders and critical thinkers," tore into university and city leadership for unleashing the police on the protesters. 

However, Chell had none of it, and backed up the force by clapping back at Cabán, who only last year called for the police to be "defunded and abolished." She has also co-sponsored legislation that would have abolished the NYPD’s gang database — a police resource tool containing the names of 18,000 alleged gang members — and previously railed against the mayor for bringing the force’s plainclothes police team back on the streets as she said they unfairly target people of color. 

"I started to read this garbage and quickly realized this is coming from a person who hates our city and certainly does not represent the great people of NYC," Chell wrote on the NYPD’s official Chief of Patrol account. 

Cleanup efforts of anti-Israel encampment are underway at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Thursday, following a nine-hour standoff with where police dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 100 protesters.

Images of the aftermath show the grounds covered in trash and graffiti, with messages like “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine.”

Authorities moved in to tear down the encampment overnight and were met with heavy resistance. Hundreds of protesters at UCLA defied orders to leave, some forming human chains as police fired flash-bangs to break up the crowds.

At least 200 people were arrested, said Sgt. Alejandro Rubio of the California Highway Patrol, citing data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Rubio said they were being booked at the county jails complex near downtown Los Angeles. UCLA police will determine what charges to bring.

Later Thursday morning, workers removed barricades and dismantled the protesters’ fortified encampment. Bulldozers scooped up bags of trash and tents. Some buildings were covered in graffiti.

GOP lawmakers Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rep. Brandon Williams have introduced a bill to ensure that student protesters who are convicted of criminal offenses are not bailed out by student loan forgiveness.

“Violent campus protesters laughably demand respect, amnesty, and even takeout food,” Williams said in a post on X. “My bill w/ @SenTomCotton ensures that not one student protester convicted of criminal offenses is bailed out by student loan forgiveness. Not one dime of taxpayer money will fund these criminals.”

Cotton has called the college protests a “revolting display of anti-Americanism.”

“And we know what kind of message it sends, because Hamas and the ayatollahs in Iran have been celebrating these fanatics that have built little Gazas all around America’s campuses, while Joe Biden remains silent,” Cotton said in a statement.

The Republican Senator also questioned why the State Department is not revoking visas for foreigners who “make little Gazas” or why the Justice Department isn’t deporting them or why the Department of Education isn’t investigating why Jewish civil rights “are being violated without any rescourse by these administrators.”

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, on Thursday criticized the possibility of student loan forgiveness that may be extended to anti-Israel agitators at universities nationwide.

The senator introduced The No Bailouts for Campus Criminals Act, a measure that would prevent so-called "bailouts" from being given to anyone convicted of federal or state crimes "related to the individual’s conduct at and during the course of a protest that occurs at an institution of higher education.

"Cotton told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Americans who never went to college or responsibly paid off their debts shouldn’t have to pay off other people’s student loans. They especially shouldn’t have to pay off the loans of Hamas sympathizers shutting down and defacing campuses." 

This is an excerpt of a story by Fox News Digital's Julia Johnson. Click here to read the full story.

President Biden issued a proclamation to mark the National Day of Prayer in which he urges cooperation and decorum amid ongoing disruption and violence on college campuses nationwide. 

The proclamation was released on Wednesday ahead of the National Day of Prayer on May 2. 

"Scripture tells us to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer," Biden wrote in the proclamation. "This year, my prayer for our Nation is that we keep faith that our best days are ahead of us and continue to believe in honesty, decency, dignity, and respect."

This is an excerpt of a story by Fox News Digital's Timothy H.J. Nerozzi. Click here to read the full report.

The head of a major Iranian university reportedly offered scholarships to students expelled from U.S. and European universities over anti-Israel protests broiling with antisemitism. 

Mohammad Moazzeni, who runs Shiraz University in the Fars province, made the announcement at a gathering of students meant to show "solidarity" with anti-Israel agitators in the West on Wednesday. 

Of the police response to the encampment demonstrations, he said, "[T]hey exert a lot of violence in order to contain this raging movement and have even threatened to expel the students from universities and hinder their employment in the future, and such autocratic methods show the decline of global arrogance," according to Iranian state-owned outlet Press TV. "Students and even professors who have been expelled or threatened with expulsion can continue their studies at Shiraz University and I think that other universities in Shiraz as well as Fars Province are also prepared [to provide the conditions]."

He reportedly argued that what is happening in Gaza reveals the true nature of Western civilization and further supports the message of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian state outlet reported. 

Live images of the protests at the University of California, Los Angeles, where anti-Israel agitators clashed with police trying to clear a fortified encampment from campus Thursday morning, were carried on Iranian state television, The Associated Press reported. Qatar’s pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite network also carried live images of the police action, and live images from Los Angeles also played across Israeli television networks.

To read the full article, click here.

Anti-Israel protester at George Washington University draped a statue of of the first American president with a keffiyeh, a scarf that has come to  symbolize Palestinian solidarity.

The statue of the school's namesake was seen with the scarf around Washington's neck and a Palestinian flag on his back.

The university suspended at least seven student protesters last week who organized an anti-Israel encampment on campus and refused to leave after days of demonstrations.

Rutgers University issued a warning to anti-Israel protesters who took over a campus building to vacate the property Thursday afternoon after more than two dozen morning exams were canceled because of the disruption.

Protesters who have taken over Voorhees Mall and set up tents in the area have until 4 p.m. local time to remove the encampment, school President Jonathan Holloway and Francine Conway, Chancellor, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, said in a message.

"This morning, we made the unprecedented decision to postpone morning exams on the College Avenue Campus," the message states. "Several days ago, some people, including Rutgers students and individuals not from our community, set up tents on Voorhees Mall. The University has consistently taken steps to make clear to protesting organizations, including this group, our policies reflecting our commitment to free speech and the University's thresholds for disruptive activity. 

The group Students for Justice in Palestine called for a "significant" rally at Voorhees Mall, which coincided with the beginning of the exam period, the university administrators said.

The rally disrupted 28 morning exams, which impacted 1,000 students, they said.

"This morning, we met again with the students representing the protest, again expressing our concerns for safety and student success, and informed them that their tents need to be removed from Voorhees Mall by 4 pm today," the message said.

"The safety of our students and their academic success are our highest priorities," it continued. "Exams previously scheduled for this morning are being rescheduled or relocated, and the protest area on Voorhees Mall and any other places where University business is conducted will be cleared of all protesters for the remainder of the semester."