Echoes of Vietnam war protest — A timeline of America's Student Spring
As universities and police struggle to control demonstrations that have brought US campuses to a standstill, student-led protests against Israel's "genocidal" war in Gaza show no signs of abating two weeks on.
Police arrests an anti-war demonstrator at UT Austin as Student Spring protests gain momentum throughout the US, with nearly 2,000 arrests nationwide, spanning students and professors alike./ Photo: X
Students-led pro-Palestine protests demanding an immediate end to Israel's brutal war on Gaza and their universities divest from companies linked to Tel Aviv have spread across US universities in the two weeks since Columbia University administrators called in police to dismantle an encampment on their New York City campus.
Below is a timeline of significant events in the biggest wave of US student activism — dubbed "Student Spring" — since the anti-racism protests of 2020.
APRIL 17 — Columbia University students set up a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on their Manhattan campus the same day the university's president Minouche Shafik testifies before the US Congress.
APRIL 18 — Over 100 pro-Palestine protesters are arrested at Columbia after university president asks New York police to clear the encampment.
APRIL 22 — Police arrest hundreds of people at pro-Palestine protests at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan after Columbia University canceled classes in response to its encampment.
APRIL 24 — Riot police are deployed against pro-Palestine protesters at University of Texas, Austin with 57 arrests for criminal trespass. The level of force, until then unprecedented, is later seen at other campuses.
APRIL 25 — In comments at Columbia University, US House Speaker Mike Johnson portrays the campus as out of control and suggests US military reserve forces should be brought in to restore order.
APRIL 27 — Arrest numbers swell over 1,000 on campuses as administrators call in police to break up encampments at universities from Massachusetts to Arizona.
APRIL 28 — Zionist demonstrators clash with anti-war protesters at UCLA near an encampment of pro-Palestine protesters.
APRIL 29 — Clashes between Zionist and anti-war protests erupt at UCLA and UCLA authorities declare the protest encampment unlawful. Columbia begins suspending pro-Palestine student activists at encampment.
APRIL 30 — Brown University students agree to remove camp in return for vote by university trustees on divestment from firms supporting Israel, marking first such deal for protest movement.
Pro-Israeli and Zionist protesters attack UCLA Gaza solidarity camp, four UCLA student journalists among injured. Police arrest dozens of people at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt as they clear buildings occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters.
MAY 1 — New York City police arrest dozens of pro-Palestine demonstrators occupying an academic building on Columbia University campus and remove protest encampment.
MAY 2 — Police clear pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA. In the past two weeks, over 2,000 student and faculty protesters are arrested at universities across the US.
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