Twenty-five people were arrested Saturday for trespassing at the University of Virginia after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.

In Virginia, student demonstrators began their protest on a lawn outside the school chapel Tuesday. On Saturday, video from WVAW-TV showed police wearing heavy gear and holding shields lined up on the campus in Charlottesville. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” and university police said on the social platform X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared in the area.

As police moved in, students were pushed to the ground, pulled by their arms and sprayed with a chemical irritant, Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post.

“Our concern since this began has been the safety of our students. Students are not safe right now,” Goldblatt said.

The university administration said in a statement that the demonstrators were told the tents and canopies they erected were prohibited under school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to help with enforcement, the university said.

It was the latest clash in several tense and sometimes violent weeks at colleges and universities around the country that have seen dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests at demonstrations over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools have reached agreements with protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at protests, with more than 2,400 people being arrested on 47 campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

Many encampments have been dismantled.

Michigan was among the schools bracing for protests during commencement this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. Many more are slated in the coming weeks.

In Ann Arbor, the protest happened at the beginning of the event at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyehs along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle toward the graduation stage.

They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” while holding signs, including one that read: “No universities left in Gaza.”

Overhead, planes flew banners with competing messages. “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”

Officials said no one was arrested, and the protest didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, some of them waving Israeli flags.

State police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the stage and university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the rear of the stadium, where they remained through the conclusion of the event.

“Peaceful protests like this have taken place at U-M commencement ceremonies for decades,” she added.

The university has allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police assisted in breaking up a large gathering at a graduation-related event Friday night, and one person was arrested.

At Indiana, protesters were urging supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and walk out during remarks by President Pamela Whitten on Saturday evening. The Bloomington campus designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, the arena for the ceremony.

At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.

One of them, senior David Chmielewski said in an email that the strike started Friday morning with participants consuming water only, and it will continue until administrators meet with students about demands including amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters.

Other demonstrators are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, Chmielewski said.

Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some held a sit-in at an administrative building this week, leading to about 15 arrests.

Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year before the more recent wave of encampments.

Meanwhile in Medford, Massachusetts, students at Tufts University peacefully took down their encampment without police intervention Friday night.

School officials said they were pleased with the development, which wasn’t the result of any agreement. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were “deeply angered and disappointed” that negotiations with the university had failed.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

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Marcelo reported from New York. Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit, Nick Perry in Boston and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed.

Following the strong reaction to the Israel-Hamas war across the country, some Virginia colleges and universities are still responding to last week’s series of on-campus demonstrations that resulted in dozens of students’ arrests and lingering questions about upcoming graduation ceremonies.

Youngkin says no encampments on Virginia campuses; supports ‘peaceful’ protests

Some of the most notable Virginia protests that led to arrests occurred at the University of Mary Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech and, most recently, the University of Virginia.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a Sunday appearance on Fox News that protesters at UVA — where 25 people were arrested Saturday after Virginia State Police deployed pepper spray to clear an encampment that several staff and students described as peaceful — ignored multiple warnings to leave the area and “blocked and surrounded” campus officers, and “that’s when they had to ask for state police to intervene.”

On Friday, May 3, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during an interview with Bloomberg TV that his administration determined that nonstudents are causing “real problems” and inciting hate speech, antisemitism and violence during demonstrations.

“If they’re peaceful, then of course, that’s part of our constitutional right and part of the American fabric, but we can’t allow hate speech, antisemitism and most importantly, violence and disruption and threats,” said Youngkin.

According to media reports, multiple arrests have been made on Virginia’s college campuses as the world waits for a resolution in the war between Palestine and Israel that has lasted for over six months, following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s assault on Israel near the Gaza Strip.

Demonstrators across the country are calling for a cease-fire, for America to reject forms of hate and for universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel, which they see makes them complicit in the war.

This weekend, some state colleges and universities will hold their commencement ceremonies, hosting graduates’ families and other guests on campuses. On May 11, Youngkin will speak at VCU’s commencement ceremony at the university’s convention center. 13 people were arrested during last week’s demonstration on VCU’s campus.

“Commencement is an official university event and disruptions will not be tolerated,” said Brian McNeill, a spokesman for VCU. “We expect our graduates and their guests will celebrate with behavior that allows everyone to enjoy this milestone occasion. But anyone who engages in a prolonged disruption may be asked to leave the ceremony or could be removed from the Convention Center.”

According to Michael Stowe, a spokesman for Virginia Tech, where more than 80 protesters were arrested last week, no changes are being made to any commencement activities in Blacksburg. He said any updates will be posted on the university’s commencement webpage.

Demonstrations

On Saturday afternoon, 25 protesters were arrested at the University of Virginia, the culmination of a nearly week-long demonstration that University President Jim Ryan said in a statement started as “a peaceful public demonstration” near the university’s chapel Tuesday. It is not clear how many of those arrested were UVA students.

“We hoped and tried to handle this locally,” Ryan’s statement read in reference to the efforts of UVA Police Chief Tim Longo to allow protests to continue on campus for most of the week.”But when UPD’s attempts to resolve the situation were met with physical confrontation and attempted assault, it became necessary to rely on assistance from the Virginia State Police,” Ryan wrote, noting that people unaffiliated with UVA presented safety concerns at Saturday’s protest.

“The reality is that what you had at UVA is students that were warned repeatedly they were violating both the student code of conduct, that it was an unlawful assembly, there was trespassing, there were outsiders that were there,” Miyares said on Fox News Sunday after Saturday’s incidents at UVA. “One thing I want to stress is Virginia is not New York; you have a very different governor, you have a very different AG and we’re not gonna tolerate that.”

24 members of the school’s history department faculty released a statement Saturday afternoon on X as the events on campus continued unfolding, condemning “the repression of a peaceful protest of our students by armed state police in riot gear.” The statement said university staff, students, and administrators had been collaborating since April 30 to ensure the protests stayed nonviolent so the educators were “stunned” by the university’s decision to call in state police.

Beginning in the evening on Saturday, April 27 protesters in Fredericksburg, including  college students, were arrested by law enforcement amid demonstrations at the University of Mary Washington. Combined with those taken into custody at Virginia Tech and VCU, a total of 107 people were arrested, 68 of them students, at all three campuses. 

In Richmond, demonstrators set up encampment structures that VCU said in an April 30 statement impacted campus operations and safety, and violated the university’s Reservation and Use of Space policy.

After law enforcement and university staff asked demonstrators “respectfully and repeatedly” to comply with policies throughout the day, including ones that bar the setting up of tents and other structures, the university said officers provided four mass warnings to individuals who chose not to leave the encampment before declaring an unlawful assembly.

Some demonstrators who chose not to leave threw objects at officers and sprayed them with unknown chemicals. Law enforcement officials responded using pepper spray to disperse the crowd. VCU Police report that officers did not use other chemical agents, such as tear gas.

VCU said 13 individuals were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and trespassing. Six of those arrested were students; these students will proceed normally through the university’s student conduct process.

“VCU will enforce its directive that prohibits encampments, including the installation of structures and stockpiling items that could be used to build a structure or aid an encampment,” the university said in a statement. “This will be done to comply with our policies and to support allowing students, faculty and staff to complete the semester successfully.”

In Fredericksburg, law enforcement arrested 12 demonstrators, including nine students, for trespassing, according to a letter from University President Troy Paino.

Paino wrote that demonstrators were allowed to protest at Jefferson Square, according to the university’s policy on expressive activity. But by the late afternoon on April 26, a threat assessment taken by officials determined the encampment was prohibited and tents were not permitted.

Against the guidelines, demonstrators put the tents back up on April 27, leading officials to cancel the remainder of the event.

Paino said attendees were instructed to leave, but some remained, resulting in 12 being arrested for trespassing.

“Events that do not follow instructions, attempt to disrupt classes or activities, or endanger the health, safety, and security of our campus community will not be allowed,” Palino wrote in a letter to the university community.

In Blacksburg, Virginia Tech reported that 82 individuals, including 53 current Virginia Tech students, were arrested and all were charged with trespassing.

Reaction from legislature

In the aftermath of arrests at Mary Washington, Virginia Tech, VCU and UVA, leaders and lawmakers have reacted to the protests, with most asserting that they value free speech, but responding differently on how to demand change. 

Democrats have leaned on President Joe Biden’s message that states “peaceful protest is protected” in the United States and “violent protest is not protected. It’s against the law.”

Biden backs peaceful protest, denounces campus ‘chaos’ over Gaza

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said Friday on X that UVA’s protests had been peaceful and questioned the police’s reaction to the demonstrations.

“I’m not sure what change provoked this sort of response by the police. Violence is unnecessary. I will be interested in knowing whether the change in tactics was decided in Charlottesville or Richmond.”

Others have taken a stance to condemn the policing of the First Amendment, according to a joint statement signed by five Democratic lawmakers: Sen. Saddam Azlan Salaim, D-Fairfax, and Dels. Rozia Henson Jr., D-Prince William, Adele McClure, D-Arlington, Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg, and Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk.

“Freedom of speech and the right to protest are rights protected by the United States Constitution. Full stop,” said Henson. “Arresting students for exercising their constitutionally protected rights to peacefully assemble and protest violence erodes confidence in our own governmental institutions and must be closely scrutinized.” 

The group of lawmakers also urged colleges and universities that have arrested their own students for “participating in constitutionally protected protesting to de-escalate tensions,” to reconsider their actions and re-engage with students to “facilitate a more peaceful path forward.” 

House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said his colleagues referenced in the joint statement fail to recognize the “unlawful nature” of some of these protests and associated themselves with the “worst of the bigoted messages” from demonstrators. 

“As long as these protests remain inside the rules of these universities, they have a right to happen, no matter how nauseating and odious the views on display,” Gilbert said in a statement applauding the governor, Attorney General Jason Miyares and law enforcement for the “even-handed way” they have handled the demonstrations.

He added that if demonstrations turn into intimidating Jewish students, trespassing, or other illegal activity, they can be shut down.

“Virginia’s colleges are not preschools where petulant children need to learn basic rules and manners,” Gilbert said. “Campus officials and law enforcement officers told these young adults the rules. They broke the rules, and now they’ll face the consequences.”

Mercury editor Samantha Willis contributed to this report.

For weeks, I had heard that the trail gets easier in Virginia. Leaving Damascus, I was more than ready to experience that easier trail. Truth be told, the ascents and technical trail sections continue well into southern Virginia. The trail doesn’t get that much easier; you simply become a smarter and stronger hiker. That process for me has been the most significant challenge of the trail.

Even after taking a zero in Damascus, I was nearing my mental limits as I approached Marion. My zero in Marion was a milestone. First, Marion is a class act and a town that I want to revisit. Marion Outdoors; the Merry Inn Hiker Hostel; Downtown Pioneer; and the many shuttle drivers all deserve a shout out. I heard nothing but positive comments from my fellow hikers who visited other businesses as well.

Leaving Marion, I bumped back to my departure point, Fox Creek, and made my way north. After spending the night at the Hurricane Mountain and Partnership shelters, I started my southern Virginia hostel tour. I had nothing but great experiences at the Long Necck Lair Alpaca Farm, Burke’s Garden Hostel, Weary Feet Hostel, and Wood Hole Hostel. The on-trail experiences are always notable. But, it is the off-trail experiences with other hikers at the hostels that I’ll remember for years to come. I have met some incredible people.

I stepped off the trail in Pearisburg for a trip home. I needed to see my family. I’ll be back get back to the trail on May 13. This time, I’ll be SOBO out of Harrisburg.

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