USC cancels its main commencement event, citing 'safety measures'

Protests which began at Columbia University in New York City last week have spread to dozens of college campuses across the country, including Northwestern near Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley and others.

Here's a recap of the key developments:

• In Syracuse, New York, President Biden was greeted by around 100 protesters with signs reading "Genocide Joe" and other slogans as he attended an official event
• More than 200 arrests were made on Wednesday at Emerson College, Boston; University of Southern California in Los Angeles; and the University of Texas at Austin

• Atlanta police said a protest group at Emory University including both students and non-students was ordered to disperse but refused. Police said chemical sprays were used, but denied earlier suggestions that rubber bullets were fired
• USC cancelled its main commencement ceremony scheduled for 10 May, citing "new security measures in place this year"
• Columbia officials said they expect more protests and counter-protests this evening and have asked people to avoid the area

Columbia officials held a very short briefing, saying that they expect more protests tonight.

They also said they are still "considering options" for the on-campus encampment while they continue talks with student protestors.

Columbia officials say they expect more protests and counter-protests this evening and have asked people to avoid the area.

Additional security measures for tonight include increased patrols, more personnel for campus escort services and enhanced security along the perimeter of the campus.

Columbia officials have just started a briefing on the campus protests.

Follow along for updates.

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Tensions have flared at the University of Southern California (USC) after it cancelled a student's graduation speech earlier this month.

The university said last week that Muslim student Asna Tabassum would no longer be allowed to give a speech as valedictorian due to unspecified security threats.

USC cited "substantial risks" to campus security in the decision to halt the address.

The move came after accusations that her social media presence was antisemitic. It has angered both those opposed to her speaking and those who want the speech to go on as originally planned.

"The university has betrayed me and caved into a campaign of hatred," Tabassum told the LA Times at the time.

She said she was the target of "a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice".

We are about to hear from Columbia officials in a few moments who will be speaking to the press to give an update on the protests that have rocked the campus there.

Stay tuned for updates as we bring you the latest.

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The organisers of a protest vote movement say they will join the student activists camping at the University of Michigan.

The leaders of the Uncommitted movement told Reuters news agency that they would travel to join protesters on the campus in Ann Arbor, about an hour west of Detroit.

The movement began as a group called Listen to Michigan. Earlier this year they urged voters in that state to vote “Uncommitted” – a ballot option in several US states – rather than for Joe Biden in the state's Democratic primary. More than 100,000 did so - 13% of Democratic voters who turned out.

Michigan, which Biden won narrowly in 2020, is a key battleground state in November’s presidential election.

Uncommitted activist Abbas Alawieh told Reuters: "President Biden is choosing to put his hands over his ears and ignore the hundreds of thousands of people who have already come out against the war at the ballot box."

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The University of Southern California has cancelled its main commencement ceremony scheduled for 10 May.

"With the new safety measures in place this year, the time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially," the university said in a statement.

"As a result, we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus."

The decision comes after police made multiple arrests after confronting protesters there on Wednesday and ordering the dismantling of a campus encampment.

It is also after USC said earlier this month that Muslim student Asna Tabassum would no longer be permitted to deliver a speech as valedictorian due to unspecified security threats.

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The authorities in Atlanta have released statements with new details about the confrontation between police and protesters at Emory University.

Atlanta police say a protest group including both students and non-students was ordered to disperse but refused. Chemical sprays were used, police say, but they deny earlier suggestions that rubber bullets were fired.

The university also released a statement, saying that the initial wave of activists were not associated with the school, although “members of the Emory community later joined the initial group”.

The protesters, officials say, “were disrupting the university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals”.

Videos on social media showed a university professor among those being led away by police.

Emory said a “couple of dozen” people were taken into custody but declined to say exactly how many, or if any of the protesters have been charged.

A New York Police Department chief has hit back at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after the Democratic congresswoman criticised Columbia University for calling in police to clear protesters from its campus.

In a post on X, Ocasio-Cortez, the representative for New York's 14th congressional district, described Columbia's decision as "horrific", adding that the units called in "have some of the most violent reputations on the force".

Responding on X, NYPD chief of patrol John Snell said the left-wing lawmaker's post was "Truly amazing!"

He added: "The only incidents that day on campus were the student's hateful anti-Semitic speech and vile language towards our cops."

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At the student protests, anger is not reserved solely for the universities.

Many are also angry at the US government and President Joe Biden - whom they see as complicit with Israel's war in Gaza.

I just got off the phone with Chisato Mimura, a law student and protest leader from Yale.

She told me that many students at Yale's encampment blame Biden - a thought I've also heard here at Columbia and from other campuses.

"The US is quite literally funding and equipping the weapons used in genocide," she said. "The federal government, Biden, the White House, could act."

"But instead, what they're doing is completely putting their full weight behind it," she added. "We are well aware of the prominent role they are playing."

Israel strenuously denies any suggestion it is committing genocide in Gaza, though the International Court of Justice has said the accusation is "plausible".

Here at Columbia, another student - who asked to remain anonymous - said he believed the protest movement would hurt Biden at the polls.

"These guys are pretty liberal, mostly," he said. "But nobody will vote for him while the war is still going."

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As the protests become increasingly political, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has hit back at Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's description of the demonstrations as "horrific".

Sanders replied on X: "No, Mr Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – 70% of whom are women and children."

While left-wing Democrats have accused college authorities of a heavy-handed response to the demonstrations, other lawmakers in the party have voiced concern about reports of antisemitism at the rallies.

Republicans lawmakers have been more vocal in criticising the student activists.

South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace posted on X: “Today in the US, we have entitled little Ivy League students terrorizing Jews on campus and their punishment? Student loans paid off by American taxpayers. Thanks Joe Biden."

Senator Tim Scott - another South Carolina Republican and a possible running mate for Donald Trump - wrote on X: "We cannot be a nation of hate. Standing in the gap for our Jewish brothers and sisters is the right thing to do and it is the American thing to do."

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Here’s a quick recap of the day’s events, as campus protests against the Israel-Gaza war continue to spread:

• Protests which began at Columbia University in New York City last week have now reached dozens of college campuses across the country
• Police confronted protesters who set up camp earlier today at Emory University in Atlanta. There are unconfirmed reports that authorities used pepper spray and rubber bullets
• In Syracuse, New York, President Biden was greeted by around 100 protesters with signs reading "Genocide Joe" and other slogans as he attended an official event
• More than 200 arrests were made on Wednesday at Emerson College, Boston; University of Southern California in Los Angeles; and the University of Texas at Austin
• Camps have been set up at schools across the country, including Northwestern near Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley, and others.

I’ve heard nothing at Columbia University that could be described as antisemitic.

But speaking to Jewish students on campus, they say they have heard different chants and slogans over the last six months - before the TV cameras arrived - including calls for a global intifada, which they interpret to mean Israelis and Jews should be killed.

One Jewish student, who didn’t want to be named, had tears in her eyes as she told me she now feels deeply unwelcome on campus.

The fact that an unauthorised protest is being allowed to continue makes her feel that the university authorities are on the side of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators and therefore not on the side of Jews.

One wall in the middle of campus has been covered with photographs of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and a sign saying: “Bring them home NOW!"

The Jewish students say that’s one thing they have never heard the protesters demand.

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People "not affiliated" with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have been arrested after setting up an encampment on school grounds, the school's president says.

Emory University President Gregory Fenves says several dozen protesters - "largely unaffiliated" with the university - entered the campus and were "disrupting" students in class.

"This is completely unacceptable," Fenves says.

An official from the school's police force told local news that those arrested will be charged with criminal trespass and assaulting police officers.

"The ones that were arrested, there wasn't anything peaceful about what was going on," Emory police Commander Thomas Mann told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

But not everyone detained on Thursday was unaffiliated with the university.

On X, formerly Twitter, video is circulating showing a woman who identifies herself as Noelle McAfee, chairwoman of the philosophy department at Emory University, being led away by an Atlanta Police officer.

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I just spoke to Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a vocal critic of Israel whose daughter was suspended from Barnard College last week after being arrested at a demonstration.

In response to a question from the BBC, Omar said she believes it was Columbia's move a week ago to authorise police to clear the encampment that ultimately led to the spread of the protests nationwide.

"This is a movement that started with only 70 students," she said.

"And because Columbia University decided to crack down on them and violate their first amendment, this has now spread nationally and internationally."

She spoke after apparently leading a prayer with protesters on Columbia's campus.

Some of the demonsrators held up towels to obscure BBC reporters' view of what was happening.

In 2019 the congresswoman apologised after tweeting that US support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins baby", a slang term for $100 bills, a post that drew accusations of antisemitism.

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Protesters just gathered as President Joe Biden turned up in Syracuse, New York state.

Around 100 demonstrators behind a barrier chanted: "Palestine will never die, Palestine will be free", according to local reports and reporters travelling with the president.

As the presidential motorcade pulled up at the Milton J Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology, demonstrators across the street also chanted: "Ceasefire now."

Some held signs saying: "Genocide Joe."

Biden visited the city to tout a new semiconductor facility subsidised with government funds.

Also at the event is New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

At Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, police have detained a number of protesters.

Authorities say the activists were ordered to leave the campus, but refused.

Here's some images of what ensued.

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