Protests at the US universities escalate and continue to embarrass the Biden administration

Police in the United States have arrested at least 25 students protesting in support of Palestinians and removed a sit-in camp at the University of Virginia, the university said in a statement, while other US universities braced for more protests and unrest during graduation ceremonies.

The University of Virginia at Charlottesville was again tense, although the protests were largely peaceful until Saturday morning.

Police officers wearing riot gear and uniforms were seen in video entering a protest camp, handcuffing some protesters and using what appeared to be chemical spray.

Students across the United States are gathering or setting up tents at dozens of universities to protest the months-long war in the Gaza Strip and to demand that President Joe Biden, who backs Israel, do more to stop the bloodshed there.

They are also demanding that their universities divest from companies that support the Israeli government, such as arms suppliers.

The University of Virginia said in a press release that protesters violated a number of its policies by setting up tents on Friday evening and using loudspeakers.

University President Jim Ryan said in a letter that officials learned that individuals unrelated to the university who posed some safety concerns had joined the protesters on campus.

It wasn’t clear how many students at the University of Virginia were among those arrested.

A group calling itself the University of Virginia Gaza Sit-in Camp denounced the university’s decision to call police in an Instagram post.

Chicago police said on X that dozens were arrested on charges of criminal trespassing outside the Art Institute at a demonstration on Saturday after the institute called police to disperse protesters it said were illegally occupying its campus.

The clashes didn’t develop into arrests at other universities.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Ann Arbor boycotted the start of the graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan.

Videos circulated on social media showed dozens of students wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh and graduation caps waving Palestinian flags as they walked down the middle aisle of Michigan Stadium, to cheers and boos from a crowd estimated at thousands.

The ceremony continued and campus police escorted protesters toward the back of the stadium, but no one was arrested, according to Colin Mastoni, a spokeswoman for the university.

“Peaceful protests like this have occurred at the University of Michigan’s graduation ceremonies for decades; The university supports freedom of opinion and expression, and the university leaders are pleased that today’s graduation ceremony was a moment of pride and victory,” Mastuni said in a statement.

Views on Israel’s war in Gaza have diverged, sometimes turning into violence at US universities over the past two weeks.

Several universities, including Columbia University in New York City, called police to contain the protests.

Police have so far arrested more than 2,000 protesters from universities across the country.

The University of Michigan is one of several universities that have changed their security protocols for graduation ceremonies.

The university told Reuters last week it had trained staff volunteers on how to mitigate unrest, a change from the usual duty of guiding guests around campus and to their seats.

The anti-war protests are being staged in response to Israel’s offensive on Gaza, which it launched after a Hamas offensive on Oct. 7 that Israel says killed 1,200.

Israel killed more than 35,000 in response, according to health authorities in Gaza, and leveled the Palestinian enclave to the ground.