US: Over 150 detained as pro-Palestine protests with 'virulent anti-Semitic slurs' grip several varsities

Police in the United States 'detained' more than 150 people, mostly students at two Universities on Saturday (April 27), in a show of heavy-handedness against pro-Palestinian protestors amid campus clashes triggered by Israel-Hamas war.

Police in Boston detained about 100 people while clearing a protest camp at Northeastern University. Social media posts showed security forces in riot gear and officers loading tents onto the back of a truck.

In the Arizona State University, police arrested 69 people for trespassing after the group set up an "unauthorized encampment" on campus.

In Boston, the police action came after some protesters resorted to "virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews,'" Northeastern University said in a statement on social media platform X.

Arizona State officials said a protest group -- "most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff" -- had set up a camp Friday and then ignored repeated orders to abandon the encampment.

The campus protests have exposedUS' double standards on preaching freedom of expression to the world while showing police heavy-handedness against similar expressions at home. They have posed a major challenge to some Ivy League universities who are trying to balance commitments to free expression with complaints that the rallies have spilled into anti-Semitism and hate speech.

In a statement on X, Northeastern University said the area on campus where the protests were held was now "fully secured" and "all campus operations have returned to normal."

The school said it made the move after "what began as a student demonstration two days ago was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern."

It added that detained individuals who produced a valid school ID were released and will face disciplinary proceedings, not legal action.

"Those who refused to disclose their affiliation were arrested," the school said.

'Intimidating conduct' by protestors at Pennsylvania University

Dozens of students remained encamped on Saturday (April 27) at the University of Pennsylvania, despite the college president ordering disbandment after"credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct."

Meanwhile, Columbia University in New York, the starting point of the protests, was relatively calm Saturday. Officials there announced Friday that they would not be calling police back on campus after more than 100 people were arrested last week.

"To bring back the NYPD at this time would be counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus, and drawing thousands to our doorstep who would threaten our community," school leaders said in a statement, referring to the New York Police Department.

Columbia signaled it had barred from campus Khymani James, a leader of the campus protests who had said in a video in January that "Zionists don't deserve to live," and "Be grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists."

"Chants, signs, taunts and social media posts from our own students that mock and threaten to 'kill' Jewish people are totally unacceptable, and Columbia students who are involved in such incidents will be held accountable," the school said.

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Meanwhile, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt announced it was closing campus until the end of the semester, with instruction and work continuing remotely after protesters repeatedly attempted to "break into multiple locked buildings with the intention of either locking themselves in, vandalizing or stealing equipment."

Canada sees its first pro-Palestine campus protest

Canada saw its first pro-Palestine campus protest camp spring up on Saturday (April 27) at McGill University. The school in Montreal said such encampments, which are not permitted, increase "the potential for escalation and confrontation, as we have seen at some colleges throughout the US."

The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 people as hostages. The consequent retaliatory state of war in Gaza has killed over 34,000 people amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that has created famine like conditions in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

(With inputs from agencies)