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Yale University: Dozens arrested during US Gaza campus protests
Dozens of protesters have been arrested at Yale University as demonstrations against the war in Gaza rock US campuses.Protesters occupying a square ignored multiple requests to leave, the Ivy League institution told the BBC.
Meanwhile, Columbia University students were told to attend classes virtually on Monday after over 100 arrests were made during protests there last week.
The White House has condemned alleged incidents of antisemitism at Columbia.
The ongoing protests have raised concerns about the safety of Jewish students at schools across the country.
Since the 7 October attack on southern Israel by Hamas gunmen, debates and fights about the Middle East and free speech have erupted on college campuses across the country, and tensions are now rising at major universities.
Protest "encampments" have also sprung up at other universities across the country, including the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emerson College and Tufts.
Students on both sides say there has been a rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents.
At Yale, many protesters have been calling for the university to cut its investments in weapons manufacturers.
Sunday marked the third night that protesters set up tents on an encampment at Beinecke Plaza, according to student newspaper Yale Daily News.
The university said the protests grew to involve "several hundred people" over the weekend. An invitation to protesters to meet the university's investment body is said to have been declined.
Although some protesters left when asked, others ignored "multiple requests" to do so, leading to 47 arrests by campus police on Monday, the university said.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 1,500 alumni, students and parents had signed a letter in support of the ongoing demonstration there.
In New York, city police were called onto the campus of Columbia last week and arrested dozens of protesters also calling for divestment.
The daughter of Minnesota politician Ilhan Omar was among those arrested and accused of breaking security rules.
The demonstration, which also included students camping on a campus lawn, coincided with Columbia President Minouche Shafik journeying to Capitol Hill to testify before a congressional committee on the university's efforts to tackle antisemitism.
Yale University: Dozens arrested during US Gaza campus protests
Meanwhile, students at Columbia were told to stay home on the first day of the Jewish Passover holiday.
www.bbc.com