NEW YORK – Pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked US campuses for weeks were more muted on May 3, after a series of clashes with the police, mass arrests and a stern White House directive to restore order.

The police in Manhattan cleared an encampment at New York University after sunrise, with video footage posted on social media by an official showing protesters exiting their tents and dispersing when ordered by loudspeaker.

The scene appeared relatively calm compared with crackdowns at other campuses around the country – and some worldwide – where protests against Israel’s war in Gaza have multiplied in recent weeks.

University administrators, who have tried to balance the right to protest and complaints of violence and hate speech, have increasingly called on the police to clear out the protesters ahead of year-end exams and graduation ceremonies – and some clashes with counter-protesters.

At the University of Chicago, law enforcement appeared set to dismantle an encampment on May 3 after the school’s president said talks with protesters on a compromise had failed.

Before the clearing operation began, dozens of American flag-wielding counter-protesters showed up and confronted the pro-Palestinian group, but the police separated the two sides, US media reported.

At the University of Southern California, administrators have announced updated commencement plans, with increased security and modified festivities. The plans are in lieu of the university’s main graduation ceremony, which the school cancelled, citing security concerns.

Access to campus for school-specific ceremonies will be limited to students, faculty, staff and registered guests, the university said. Security measures will be similar to those at sporting events, such as a requirement for visitors and students to carry clear bags.

More than 2,000 arrests have been made in the past two weeks across the US, some during violent confrontations with the police, giving rise to accusations of an overuse of force.

President Joe Biden, who has faced pressure from all political sides over the Israel-Hamas war, gave his first expansive remarks on the protests on May 2, saying that “order must prevail”.

“We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” Mr Biden said, in a televised statement from the White House.

“But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society, and order must prevail.”

His remarks came hours after the police moved in on demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles, which had seen a violent confrontation when counter-protesters attacked a fortified encampment there.

A large police contingent forcibly cleared the sprawling encampment early on May 2, while flashbangs were launched to disperse crowds gathered outside.

School officials said more than 200 people were arrested.

On the opposite US coast on May 2, protesters at New Jersey’s Rutgers University agreed to take down their camp after reaching a compromise with administrators, like a similar deal at other institutions, including Brown University.

Worldwide anger

Republicans have accused Mr Biden of being soft on what they say is anti-Semitic sentiment among the protesters, while he faces opposition in his own party for his strong support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for anti-Semitism, or threats of violence against Jewish students,” Mr Biden said.

CNN reported that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona echoed the condemnation in a letter to university leaders on May 3, and pledged to investigate reports of anti-Semitism “aggressively”.

Meanwhile, similar student protests have popped up in countries around the world, including in Australia, France, Mexico, Canada and Ireland.

Students at Trinity College Dublin built an encampment that forced the university to restrict campus access on May 4 and close the Book of Kells exhibition, one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions.

The camp was set up late on May 3 after Trinity College’s students’ union said it was fined €214,000 (S$311,000) by the university for financial losses incurred due to protests in recent months not exclusively regarding the war in Gaza.

Students’ union president Laszlo Molnarfia posted a photograph of benches piled up in front of the entrance to the building where the Book of Kells is housed on the X social media platform on May 3. The illuminated manuscript book was created by Celtic monks in about 800 BCE.

In Paris, the police moved in to clear students staging a sit-in at the Sciences Po university.

An encampment has grown at Canada’s prestigious McGill University, where administrators on May 1 demanded that it be taken down “without delay”.

The Gaza war started when Hamas militants staged an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct 7 that left more than 1,170 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 128 hostages remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 35 of them are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 34,600 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry. AFP, NYTIMES