CNN
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As universities and colleges turn to police to clear their campuses of protests over Israel’s assault on Gaza that continue to ripple across the nation, the response by law enforcement is under heightened scrutiny after thousands were arrested since mid-April.
Footage captured from the physical – and in some cases violent – confrontations between police and protesters reveals a gamut of tactics used to disperse demonstrators from occupied school buildings and take down on-campus encampments.
Civil rights groups have criticized what they say is an excessive police response to the protests as officers, clad in riot gear, swarm campuses and in some cases have deployed rubber bullets, chemical irritants and pepper balls to quell them. Law enforcement agencies say they were challenged with ensuring the First Amendment rights of protesters while enforcing the law and the rules of the universities and keeping everyone safe.
The wide range of police tactics seen on campuses nationwide reveal the disparities between police agencies in their training and understanding of the generally accepted best practices in dealing with protests and crowd control issues, law enforcement experts told CNN.
Still, the experts said, police were largely measured in their approach and showed restraint in using force – a direct result of lessons learned during the widespread protests after the police killing of George Floyd nearly four years ago. Those protests were bigger, fiercer and more sustained than prior demonstrations.
“In the rearview mirror of every police executive is the summer of 2020, which was a real defining moment for police in terms of handling demonstrations, violent demonstrations,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy group. “Police were not prepared for the level of violence they encountered.”
Officers have arrested more than 2,000 people on US campuses since mid-April amid polarized debates over the right to protest, the limits of free speech and accusations of antisemitism. Although the demands among protesters vary at each university, the majority of demonstrations have called for colleges to divest from companies that support Israel and the assault on Gaza.
The large crackdowns on protesters have led to clashes and standoffs with police, and some counter-protesters, unfolding on campuses that have in some instances prompted canceled or modified graduation ceremonies and increased security protocols.
Emily Byrski/AFP/Getty Images
NYPD officers in riot gear enter Columbia University’s encampment as they evict a building that had been barricaded by pro-Palestinian student protesters on April 30.
At Columbia University, officials asked the New York Police Department to maintain its presence on campus until May 17 after officers carrying heavy-duty bolt cutters and zip-tie restraints deployed flash-bang grenades to breach a building that was occupied by protesters. At the University of Arizona, officials said police used pepper balls and rubber bullets as a last resort to disperse protesters. And in California, at UCLA, officers fired rubber bullets and took control of the encampment site nearly three hours after they were called in by campus officials.
The current war began on October 7 when Hamas…
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