Representational.
Boston: US police detained around 100 protesters while clearing a pro-Palestine encampment at a Boston university on Saturday. Police's move in riot gear is the latest in the US, suppressing pro-Palestine demonstrations and related clashes in campuses in the US, triggered by Israel's relentless offensive in Gaza, Agence France-Presse reported.
The Northeastern University, however, claimed, in a post on X, that the police action was after protesters issued anti-Semitic slurs such as "Kill the Jews".
AFP reports that the recently triggered campus protests are posing severe challenges to university management across the US as they are trying to balance commitments of free speech with complaints of alleged anti-Semitism and hate speech by the protesters.
Police in the country are quite busy these days, containing demonstrations by protesters in universities and carrying out large-scale arrests. They use chemical irritants and tasers to deal with the protesters in apparent attempts to disperse demonstrators.
In its statement, Northeastern said campus police, backed by local law enforcement, moved in Saturday to clear "an unauthorized encampment" on the campus.
Northeastern University said in its statement that police moved into the university to clear an "unauthorized encampment" inside the campus. It began as a student demonstration two days before but was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern, the university claimed.
Further, the university added that those who had produced a valid ID were released but were going to face disciplinary proceedings and not legal action. According to it, those who refused to disclose their affiliation were arrested.
Meanwhile, there were tensions at the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, where a campus encampment was ordered to be disbanded. Columbia University in New York barred a student leader, Khymani James, over allegations of him saying in a video, "Zionists don't deserve to live". It is alleged that the student leader also said, "Be grateful that I'm not just going out and murdering Zionists."