NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale University student protestors have been released from custody Thursday morning as the group continues to protest the school.
On Tuesday, police tore down the protestor's encampments at Yale and at the University of Connecticut. The takedown of the encampments has not stopped the students from having their voices heard.
Yale students were at the Yale police department waiting for students who were arrested Wednesday night to be released. The arrests came after students and activists marched to the Yale University president's house and remained in his driveway and on the street.
Students were seen wearing masks and chanting outside of the president's home.
The Occupy Yale group said four people were arrested Wednesday night, but police have not confirmed that number.
Yale's president, Peter Salovey, had asked students to share their views in non-disruptive ways. But students said they'll continue to push for the school to disclose and divest from any investments involving weapons manufacturing for Israel.
At UConn, an encampment was also taken down on Tuesday, and 24 students and one graduate student were arrested. Students there also protested Wednesday night, setting their sights on their university president and calling on her to step down.
UConn's president, Radenka Maric, issued a statement saying there were plenty of ways for students to exercise their First Amendment rights without violating campus policies. Students said they would continue their protests even as graduation is set to begin on Friday.
Yale and UConn are not the only college campuses seeing encampments and protests.
In the overnight hours into Thursday morning, police removed barricades and dismantled a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' fortified encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus. This action came after protesters defied police orders to leave and about 24 hours after counter-protestors had attacked a tent encampment on the campus.
Police methodically ripped apart the encampment’s barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences, and trash dumpsters and made an opening toward dozens of tents of demonstrators. Police also began to pull down canopies and tents.
Demonstrators were holding umbrellas like shields as they faced off with dozens of officers. Some of the protesters warned their fellow demonstrators to be ready with water in case police release tear gas or other irritant.
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The police action occurred a night after the UCLA administration and campus police waited hours to stop the counter-protesters attack. The delay drew condemnation from Muslim students and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Demonstrators rebuilt the makeshift barriers around their tents on Wednesday afternoon while state and campus police watched.
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. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
The tense standoff at UCLA came one night after violence instigated by counter-protesters erupted in the same place.
The Associated Press has contributed to this report.
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Jennifer Glatz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jglatz@fox61.com.
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