As tensions around pro-Palestinian protests at colleges and universities continued to rise, police arrested more than 100 protesters at Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday, Hanover police arrested 90 protesters at Dartmouth for “multiple offenses” including criminal trespass and resisting arrest, the department said in a statement. The 90 protesters arrested included both Dartmouth students and non-Dartmouth students.
The arrests came after campus security barred encampment or tents on the Dartmouth Green and followed multiple announcements telling the protesters they needed to dissipate after tents were set up, according to the statement. Hanover police and New Hampshire State Police made “multiple announcements to disperse,” prompting some protesters to leave. But, many remained at the site despite the warnings, according to police.
The Central New Hampshire Special Operations Unit aided in the response to the protest, according to the statement.
Also on Wednesday, nearly a dozen protesters were arrested at the University of New Hampshire, according to NBC10 Boston.
The arrests came as protesters attempted to establish an encampment there, according to the station. Officials issued three warnings over the loud speaker before police in riot gear arrived to the area in front of Thompson Hall, WMUR reported.
“We’re sorry this had to happen. We’re sorry this was made to happen. But we needed to clear this out, we’re not gonna have an encampment … it’s simply not going to happen,” UNH Police Chief Paul Dean said.
In Massachusetts, more than 200 protesters were arrested at Emerson College and Northeastern University last week. Encampments remained at Tufts, MIT, and Harvard on Thursday despite senior leaders at each institution calling on protesters to remove them.
Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a significant student movement. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
The Associated Press tallied at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.
The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the U.S., including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
