Iran Press/ America: Several schools have called the police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across multiple campuses.
Tensions on many campuses have risen since the October 7 attack, when the war between Israel and Palestinian resistance started.
Protesters at New York's Columbia University, the epicenter of demonstrations that began last week, have said they won't disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli universities and commits to divesting funds from Israel-linked entities, among other demands.
Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been set up at other schools, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emerson College, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Berkeley. On Wednesday, police arrested nearly 100 protesters at the University of Southern California. College administrators are facing increasing pressure from lawmakers to rein in protests.
Students have been arrested at campuses in Los Angeles, California, and in Atlanta, Georgia.
In Austin, Texas, the governor ordered state troopers to arrest protesters.
Over 100 protesters were arrested last week after the Ivy League university's president asked police to clear the protest site. Her request followed her testimony to Congress about the university's response to alleged antisemitism on campus.
But the mass arrests appear to have galvanized the movement, according to demonstrators who remained onsite one week later.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was arrested at Columbia, told BBC News the movement started with just a few students but quickly spread due to the mass arrests.
"This is a movement that started with only 70 students," she told BBC News at Columbia on Thursday.
"And because Columbia University decided to crack down on them and violate their First Amendment, this has now spread nationally and internationally."
In Atlanta, the school said several dozen protesters "not affiliated" with Emory University set up tents on campus early Thursday morning.
Administrators said the group of trespassers was later joined by members of the university community. But when the protesters refused to disperse, the Emory Police Department "took a couple dozen people into custody".
The decision by the University of Southern California to cancel the valedictorian's speech at commencement - followed by its cancellation of the main 10 May commencement - led to outrage on campus.
The ceremony was expected to draw some 65,000 people to campus.
The valedictorian, who was chosen due to high grades and involvement in campus life, had posted a link to a website that was critical of Israel, which led to recent accusations of anti-Israel.
The university said the cancellation was due to unspecified threats to campus security and did not condemn the student's post.
But the decision angered both pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators. Pro-Palestinian protesters called for the student, who is Muslim, to deliver her speech.
Pro-Israel students called for the school to condemn her posts.
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Police Department was called in and arrested 93 people.
Hundreds of students and faculty members held a march from Georgetown University to nearby George Washington University, where an encampment was set up on Thursday.
At least 20 tents have been erected on the university's normally quiet campus in northwest DC.
At the nearby American University, a group of students protested outside the office of the school's president on Wednesday.
Police said 57 arrests were made on Wednesday night at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin.
Troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety wearing riot gear were seen using their bikes to push protesters back.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who called in the troopers, posted on X that the protests were antisemitic(anti-zionist) and called for student protesters to be expelled. Democrats in the state accused him of using the mass arrests as a "campaign ad".
The state National Guard issued a statement denying that it had been mobilized to make arrests on campus.
"While the Texas National Guard was aware and prepared to respond to the protests at UT yesterday, no Soldiers were dispatched to the campus during the event," the Texas Military Department said in a statement. It added that the force is prepared to "respond if requested".
On Monday, police arrested 120 people who erected an impromptu encampment on the downtown Manhattan campus.
All but four of those arrested were charged with trespassing.
On Wednesday, encampments formed in Harvard Yard after the university administration suspended the student group the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Harvard's president has refused to rule out asking the police to respond.
Protests have been seen at a least two dozen universities, and even in some high schools around the US.
In Boston, 108 people were arrested at Emerson University early Thursday morning, leading the university to cancel classes. Four police officers were injured during the protest.
In Connecticut, protests are ongoing at Yale University, even after 48 people were arrested on Wednesday. All but four of those arrested were Yale students.
On Tuesday, high schoolers in the Seattle area walked out of classes in protest against the war. School officials in New Jersey have sternly warned high school students there against taking part in a walkout planned for Friday.
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