Hundreds of university students were arrested in the United States as demonstrations continued condemning Israel’s war on Gaza

Hundreds of students were arrested on college campuses across the United States on Saturday as student protests against Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip continued. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among those arrested by police. 

University students took significant risks by violating the university rules, knowing that they could be expelled from the university by doing this. At the University of Princeton, tuition fees are about $50,000 per year, and according to the point of view of many students, it’s an education, but they have been looking forward to it all their lives.

The demonstrators are calling on institutions to boycott companies and individuals with ties to Israel. However, some Jewish students complained about alleged anti-Semitism by some protesters. A spokesman for Ms. Stein said she was one of about 80 people arrested at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

 The spokesman added that the Green Party presidential candidate is not currently believed to face any charges. California State Polytechnic has become the latest to announce a move to remote teaching. The protests saw the cancellation of education and the postponement of graduation ceremonies.

 The tents first appeared at Green College in Colombia on April 17, and protests then spread across the country after riot police were sent to clear the tents, arresting more than 100 students. Shortly after, students held another protest camp at Yale University in Connecticut.

At Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, the state police arrested more than 100 protesters for trespassing on Saturday after they refused to vacate their tents from the college campus, according to a police statement. The police cleared the camp. 

The demonstrations have been infiltrated by vandals unrelated to the university,” Northeastern University wrote on the X website. She added that anti-Semitic calls had been heard, saying: “We cannot tolerate this kind of hatred on campus.” Protest leaders strongly rejected these accusations. At the University of Southern California, pro-Palestinian demonstrators returned to campus days after police were called to break up a protest in the university’s Alumni Park. The protest was reportedly primarily peaceful, but the university administration reported “vandalism” of campus property following Saturday’s rally.

 The university said the campus was vandalized “by individuals belonging to the group that continued to camp illegally on campus,” adding that the statue and fountain were damaged. The university said the campus will be temporarily closed to non-residents. Other universities, including Columbia University and Emory in Georgia, were reportedly quieter on Saturday. 

The protests were sparked by anger over the Israeli attack on Gaza, which killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Israeli army launched the attack on the Gaza Strip after killing about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, and taking 253 others in Gaza hostage after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year.