House Republican speaker calls on Columbia president to resign as student Gaza protests spread across US campuses – live

A small group of pro-Palestinian protestors chant outside Columbia University in New York to cheer on students camping inside.

LIVE – Updated at 17:05

Mike Johnson escalates criticism of Minouche Shafik as more students appear to be joining protests across the country.

17:05Dani Anguiano

Cal Poly Humboldt, a public university on California’s northern coast, remained closed on Wednesday after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves in a campus building for a sit-in.

Law enforcement and students clashed on Monday as police tried to clear Siemens Hall. Video posted by a student activist group showed students chanting “we are not afraid of you” before officers in riot gear attempted to take them into custody. Police could be seen swinging batons at demonstrators as the group pushed them back. The officers reportedly left after an hours-long standoff.

Three protesters were arrested on Monday evening after the confrontation with law enforcement, the university said in a statement. Dozens of students remain inside the building and have barricaded entrances with furniture, according to the university, while others occupied another nearby building.

The campus is closed through Wednesday and classes are being held remotely.

16:54

The encampment at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles this morning comes days after the university controversially cancelled the valedictorian speech of a Muslim student.

The Los Angeles university’s provost, Andrew Guzman, said last week that it took the unprecedented step of canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech because of the “alarming tenor” of reactions to her selection as valedictorian – along with “the intensity of feelings” surrounding Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – had created “substantial risks relating to security”.

The university’s decision was met with outrage from the Council of American Islamic Relations (Cair), the US’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and free speech groups. Students and faculty marched across campus last Thursday in silent protest of the university’s decision.

Tabassum described herself as “shocked … and profoundly disappointed” after being informed that she would be barred from addressing her fellow graduates at their 10 May commencement.

The university later decided to cancel the keynote speech by film-maker Jon M Chu, citing the “highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program”.

Biden signs foreign aid package including $26.3bn for Israel

16:28

Joe Biden has signed into law legislation that rushes $95bn in foreign aid more than $26bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.

The legislation includes $60.8bn to replenish Ukraine’s war chest as it seeks to repel Russia from its territory; $26.3bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8.1bn for the Indo-Pacific region to bolster its defenses against China.

Johnson to call on Columbia University president to resign

16:27

Mike Johnson said he will call on the president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, to resign when he joins Jewish students at the university later today.

The House speaker, in an interview with Hugh Hewitt this morning, accused Shafik of being “a very weak, inept leader”, adding:

They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students? They are expected to run for their lives and stay home from class? It’s maddening.

He continued:

What we are seeing on these college campuses across the country is disgusting and unacceptable and every leader in this country, every political official, every citizen of good conscience has to speak out and say that ‘this is not who we are in America.’ And we got to have accountability and that is what my colleagues and I will be working on.

16:26

The Senate yesterday voted resoundingly an aid package that includes more than $26bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.

The final vote was 79 to 18 for the package that also included aid for Ukraine and Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Tuesday night near at Grand Army Plaza in New York, on the doorstep of Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn residence, calling on him to stop arming Israel’s military, which relies heavily on US weapons, jet fuel and other military equipment.

Joe Biden praised congressional leaders and lawmakers after the Senate vote for what he called an effort “to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point”.

16:08

Demonstrators have set up an encampment and protest at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

The encampment began this morning at Alumni Park, according to the USC Divest from Death coalition. The group’s statement reads:

We, the USC Divest from Death Coalition, establish our occupation most fundamentally in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they resist genocide and continue in their struggle for liberation.

It lists six demands of the university: “End War Profiteering and Investment in Genocide”; “Complete Academic Boycott of Israel”; “Protect free speech on campus and provide full amnesty”; “Stop the Displacement, from South Central to Palestine”; “No Policing on Campus”; and “End the Silence on the Genocide in Palestine”.

15:39

The New York University Palestine solidarity coalition has issued a statement slamming the university’s authorization of the arrest of more than 140 protesters on Monday night.

School officials asked the New York police department for help clearing a plaza on NYU’s Manhattan campus, police said. Students, faculty and others were arrested that night.

In a statement, the university’s Palestine solidarity coalition accused the university of “acting in bad faith, stalling negotiations, and refusing to communicate decisions”. It said:

We will not let the NYU administration twist our words and actions, words and actions that are in favor of liberation. We will not let NYU administration weaponize Judaism to stifle free speech, muzzle the Palestinian fight for freedom, and get away with supporting a genocide that has been going on for 200 days.

14:53

About 90 Brown University students set up an encampment and protest this morning, according to the university.

A university spokesperson said encampment on the university’s “historic and residential greens is a violation of university policy”, adding that students participating were informed that will be subject to “conduct proceedings”. The statement continued:

Protest is an acceptable means of expression at Brown, but it becomes unacceptable when it violates university policies that are intended to ensure the safety of members of the Brown community and that there is no interference in the rights of others to engage in the regular operations of the university.

A statement by Brown Divest Coalition called on the university to “end their ongoing repression of student protesters advocating for a liberated Palestine”.

From NBC10’s Allegra Zamore:

14:34

Hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators were arrested during a Passover seder that doubled as a protest in New York.

Protesters shut down a major thoroughfare to pray for a ceasefire and urge the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, to end military aid to Israel, close to his Brooklyn home.

About 300 arrests took place at Grand Army Plaza, where thousands of mostly Jewish New Yorkers gathered for the seder, a ritual that marked the second night of the holiday celebrated as a festival of freedom by Jews worldwide.

The seder came just before the Senate resoundingly passed a military package that includes $26bn for Israel.

AOC says Columbia University calling police on protesters was a ‘reckless, dangerous act’

14:25

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has criticized the decision by Columbia University to call the police on pro-Palestinian protesters at its New York City campus.

Posting to X, the New York congresswoman wrote:

Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act.

It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

Biden faces risk of protests amid criticism of planned commencement speech

14:15

Joe Biden will be the commencement speaker at Morehouse College in Georgia, giving the Democrat a key spotlight on one of the nation’s preeminent historically Black campuses but potentially exposing him to uncomfortable protests as he seeks reelection against former Donald Trump.

The AP reports:

The White House confirmed Tuesday that Biden would speak May 19 at the alma mater of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and then address the graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point on May 25.

The Morehouse announcement has drawn some backlash among the school’s faculty and supporters who are critical of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. That could put the White House and Biden’s reelection campaign in a difficult position as the president works to shore up the racially diverse coalition that propelled him to the Oval Office.

14:12

Nine students were arrested at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday, a university spokesperson said today.

The student coalition set up tents in front of the Walter Library and university police began “harassing” the encampment, protesters said. Students gathered outside the Coffman Memorial union on Tuesday night with plans to sleep in tents, but the encampment was cleared overnight, CBS news reported.

“The group was asked to disperse by 7am and told they would be arrested if they chose to stay past that time,” a school spokesperson said.

They added that the University of Minnesota “supports and respects free speech through lawful protest”, but that “tents are not allowed on any University property for any purpose without a permit”, adding:

I want to be clear that protests where groups express diverse views and opinions occur regularly on our campus and typically occur without arrests. The choice to establish and remain in a prohibited encampment led to this morning’s arrests.

Mike Johnson to visit Columbia University

13:58

Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, will visit Columbia University today to speak to Jewish students and hold a press conference “regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses”, his office has said.

New York House Republicans have called on Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, to resign immediately for failing to end the protests.

Israel defense minister says ‘antisemitic’ campus protests ‘inciting terrorism’

13:45

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has weighed in on the student campus protests, calling them “antisemitic” and claiming they “incite terrorism”.

Writing on X, Gallant added: “To our Jewish brothers and sisters – we stand with you. To university faculties and US authorities – listen to their calls for jihad. Act now to defend Jewish youth.”

13:32

Team Biden, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be overly concerned yet by any potential impact the campus protests could have on his electoral chances.

Politico reports this morning that campaign officials believe the student vote and the youth vote are not one and the same. One official is quoted as saying: “It’s not going to be for the vast majority of young voters the thing that’s going to determine whether they vote or how they vote.”

A recent Harvard Youth poll, quoted by Politico, says economic issues rather than the war in Gaza is at the forefront of young Americans’ minds. However, Harvard polling guru John Della Volpe was quotes as saying: “How this evolves, who knows? … Hopefully things improve. But I would not be willing to write [the protests] off right now.”

13:20

On Tuesday, the Georgia chapter of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine criticized Morehouse College’s decision to go ahead with Biden’s commencement speech.

In a statement, the group called on Morehouse leaders to rescind the invitation and said students and faculty members were not consulted, warning the decision “would do lasting harm to everyone associated with the college”.

Quoting former college president Benjamin E Mays, who said Morehouse graduates must work to correct wrongs and injustices in the world, the statement also added: “President Biden has not demonstrated sensitivity to wrongs sufferings and injustices. And as the one person on the planet who has the power to stop an active genocide, he has not accepted responsibility for correcting the ills.”

Republicans demand Biden administration send in federal law enforcement to end protests

13:11

Senior Republican US senators on Tuesday waded into growing tensions at leading universities over the Israel-Gaza war, demanding the Biden administration send in federal law enforcement officers to curb pro-Palestinian protests that have led to hundreds of arrests.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, and John Thune, his deputy, wrote to Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, and Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, calling demonstrators “antisemitic, pro-terrorist mobs”.

Twenty-five Republican senators led by McConnell wrote: “The Department of Education and federal law enforcement must act immediately to restore order, prosecute the mobs who have perpetuated [sic] violence and threats against Jewish students, revoke the visas of all foreign nationals (such as exchange students) who have taken part in promoting terrorism, and hold accountable school administrators who have stood by instead of protecting their students.”

The Missouri senator Josh Hawley and Arkansas senator Tom Cotton on Monday called for Joe Biden to send national guard troops on to campuses.

Which US universities are seeing campus protests?

13:10

Campus protests are growing across the US, with arrests this week at Yale and New York universities.

Mother Jones has put together a list of universities where students have set up encampments to protest and demand universities divest from companies that are closely linked to Israel’s military operations.

They include:

New York University, where NYPD arrested a number of people on Monday night. NYU professors wrote an open letter signed by the executive committee of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at the university denying that any NYU-affiliated protesters had engaged in antisemitism or intimidation of others via the demonstration, and decrying heavy-handed tactics by the police. The letter said NYU leadership’s decision to call the New York police department was “capricious” and noted that many protesters were people of color and that the NYPD had a history of brutality against this demographic.

The New School in New York, where students reportedly set up camp on Sunday during an event for new students. The New School called the encampment “unauthorized” in a statement.

Yale University, where at least 47 protesters were arrested on Monday evening. Several hundred people had been protesting at Yale, including hunger strikers. Craig Birckhead-Morton, 21, who participated in the encampment protest at Yale’s Beinecke Plaza, told the Guardian of his arrest: “We were very surprised. We had built a very peaceful, safe community space where students could engage in discourse with each other, where New Haven and Connecticut community members could come onto the campus and engage with us.” He said the university is still in possession of his belongings from the encampment.

Emerson College, MIT, and Tufts University in Boston. “We were definitely inspired by what’s going on at Columbia,” Owen Buxton, an Emerson College student, told the Boston Globe. “They put out the call for universities across the country, and we answered.”

The University of Michigan, where about 40 students set up an encampment, according to the student-run newspaper The Michigan Daily.

University of California, Berkeley, where students set up a protest camp on Monday, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. About 40 tents were set up by midday on Tuesday. Palestinian flags hung on the tents at Upper Sproul Plaza, which has historically hosted protests on campus. A large sign hung on the building reads: “Gaza Solidarity Encampment Until UC Divests.” “We are demanding a direct acknowledgment and condemnation of this genocide,” Matt Kovac, a member of the UC Berkeley Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, told the Guardian. “We take inspiration and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues, our fellow students and workers, at Columbia and Yale.”

12:47

Our picture editors have put together a gallery of the most striking photos from the protests at some of the US’s most prestigious universities:

Columbia university extends deadline for talks to dismantle student protest camps

12:41

Columbia University has extended a deadline for talks on dismantling pro-Palestinian protest camps on campus by 48 hours as tension over the Unites States’ handling of the Israel-Gaza war grows.

The New York university has been in talks with student protest leaders to clear the encampment and had originally set a deadline of midnight on Tuesday. Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik warned on Tuesday that the university would “have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus” if discussions failed.

The deadline extension came after students agreed to dismantle a “significant number of tents”, according to the Washington Post. Student negotiators said in a statement that university leaders had threatened to call in the National Guard and NYPD if their demands were not met.

Shafik has faced criticism over her handling of the protests after more than 100 people were arrested at the university last week.

The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishment of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses. Police arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan on Monday.

The police crackdowns came after Columbia University canceled in-person classes on Monday in response to protesters setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus last week.

Hundreds of faculty members then held a mass walkout to protest against the school president’s decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week.

We’ll bring you the latest news and reactions from the protests.

12:40Nina Lakhani

Away from the campus turmoil, hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators were arrested during a Passover seder that doubled as a protest in New York, as they shut down a major thoroughfare to pray for a ceasefire and urge the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, to end US military aid to Israel.

The 300 or so arrests took place on Tuesday night at Grand Army Plaza, on the doorstep of Schumer’s Brooklyn residence, where thousands of mostly Jewish New Yorkers gathered for the seder, a ritual that marked the second night of the holiday celebrated as a festival of freedom by Jews worldwide.

The seder came just before the US Senate resoundingly passed a military package that includes $26bn for Israel.

The protesters called on Schumer – who is among a minority of Democrats to recently criticize the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – to stop arming Israel’s military, which relies heavily on US weapons, jet fuel and other military equipment.