Virginia Tech police physically carry away anti-Israel agitators amid effort to restore peace on campus
Arrests nationwide have approached 900 since an anti-Israel protest escalated at Columbia University on April 18
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police officers at Virginia Tech arrested several anti-Israel agitators at a campus demonstration on Sunday night and into Monday morning amid hundreds of arrests during recent protests at elite colleges and universities across the country.
Video from the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, shows a trio of officers placing one student in zip-tie restraints while carrying them by their arms and legs to another part of the encampment. Other students were seen in handcuffs while some walked with the officers.
Officers were met with jeers as they arrested the agitators, according to Reuters, and removed tents in the encampment area set up outside the Graduate Life Center at Virginia Tech’s Graduate School in an effort to restore peace on the campus.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The demonstration at Virginia Tech is part of a wide movement of protests roiling American campuses including Columbia University, Princeton, Yale, the University of Southern California, University of Michigan and others.
Campus police at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, arrested several students during an anti-Israel demonstration on campus Sunday night and into Monday morning. (Reuters)
The protests are against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and its mounting death toll, which sits at more than 34,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The anti-Israel protest groups are calling on the universities to end investments in companies that support or profit from Israel's military actions in Gaza.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Virginia Tech officials said 82 protesters were arrested, including 53 current Virginia Tech students. They were subsequently charged with trespassing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Graduate Life Center was reopened and scheduled activities have resumed, the school said.
A speaker at a pro-Palestinian encampment inside the campus of Columbia University advocates for financial disclosure and divestment from all companies tied to Israel and calls for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Protesters at the various college campuses across the U.S. are threatening to derail upcoming graduation ceremonies with continued disruptive demonstrators.
About 275 people were arrested on Saturday at various campuses, including Indiana University at Bloomington, Arizona State University and others. The number of arrests nationwide has approached 900 since New York police removed an anti-Israel protest encampment at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 demonstrators on April 18.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dozens of Northwestern University students, and other protesters who set up tents with them on campus, were arrested by state, Boston and campus police during a weekend demonstration. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via AP)
Police in riot gear also arrested approximately 102 students at an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston on Saturday. They will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, the Massachusetts State Police said.
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More than 100 anti-Israel agitators have been arrested at Columbia University since the protests escalated on April 18. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Police at Washington University in St. Louis removed masked protesters and arrested more than 100 people, including students and university employees, on Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The nationwide campus protests were sparked by some students' opposition to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which was a response to Hamas' deadly attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.