AFP :
Police clashed with protesters at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, including using pepper spray, and made arrests while dismantling an encampment, adding to the more than 350 people detained nationwide over the weekend.
The UN on Tuesday voiced concern over heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States.
Police clashed with protesters at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, including using pepper spray, and made arrests while dismantling an encampment, adding to the more than 350 people detained nationwide over the weekend.
Footage of police in riot gear summoned at various colleges to break up rallies has been viewed around the world, recalling the protest movement that erupted during the Vietnam War.
“I am concerned that some of law enforcement actions across a series of universities appear disproportionate in their impact,” said UN human rights chief Volker Turk.
“Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society — particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel,” he added.
The protests have reignited the debate since the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7 over freedom of expression and allegations of anti-Semitism.
“Incitement to violence or hatred on grounds of identity or viewpoints — whether real or assumed — must be strongly repudiated,” Turk said.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were occupying a building on the New York City campus on Tuesday as officials limited access to students who live there and essential employees.
The protesters who were occupying Hamilton Hall displayed banners from a window reading “Intifada,” the Arabic word for an uprising, CNN reported, citing a video.
The school said in an early morning notice that effective immediately access to the Morningside campus has been limited to students residing in residential buildings on campus and employees providing essential services.
“This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise,” it said. “The safety of every single member of this community is paramount.
We thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding.”
The university began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists on Monday who refused to dismantle a protest camp on the New York City campus after the Ivy League school declared a stalemate in talks seeking to end the demonstration.
University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to persuade demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to express opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The crackdown at Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests roiling university campuses across the US in recent weeks, came as police at the University of Texas at Austin arrested dozens of students whom they doused with pepper spray at a pro-Palestinian rally.
