Police deployed a heavy presence on US university campuses Wednesday after forcibly clearing away some weeks-long protests against Israel's war with Hamas, reports BSS.
Dozens of police cars patrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles campus in response to violent clashes overnight when counter-protesters attacked an encampment of pro-Palestinian students.
At Columbia University in New York City, which has been the epicenter of the demonstrations, police were on standby after officers marched onto campus late Tuesday to end the protests there.
The sight of helmeted police at two of America's most prestigious universities left some students dismayed.
"I don't think we should have a heavy police force on campus," UCLA student Mark Torre, 22, told AFP as he surveyed the scene from behind metal barriers.
"But more and more, day by day, I think it's a necessary evil, to at least keep safety on campus."
At Columbia and at the City University of New York, where police cleared demonstrators out overnight, some students decried "rough and aggressive" tactics used by officers.
"We were assaulted, brutally arrested. And I was held for up to six hours before being released, pretty banged up, got stomped on, got cut up," one CUNY student who gave his name only as Jose told AFP.
A medical student offering treatment to student detainees as they were released described a litany of injuries.
"We've seen things like severe head traumas, concussions, someone was knocked unconscious in the encampment by police, someone was thrown down the stairs," the student, who gave her name as Isabel, said.
About 300 arrests were made at Columbia and CUNY, Police Commissioner Edward Caban told a news conference Wednesday.
Mayor Eric Adams blamed "outside agitators" for ratcheting up tensions. Students at Columbia have denied that outsiders were involved.
The university's president Minouche Shafik, who has come under fire over her decision to call in police, said Wednesday the turn of events "filled me with deep sadness."
"I am sorry we reached this point," she said in a statement.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
