Police Broke Teeth and Bones of Students at US Encampments for Gaza

Thousands of pro-Palestine students were arrested on US college campuses, as part of a “widespread, McCarthyite censorship and retaliation campaign”, a new report has found.

Threatened with funding cuts by the Trump administration, colleges and universities across the US played an active role in suppressing pro-Palestinian solidarity, with many students and scholars facing expulsions and deportations.

The report from the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International USA, concludes that universities and law enforcement agencies acted unlawfully during the nationwide crackdown on student-led pro-Palestinian activism.

“Colleges and universities violated basic free speech, association and assembly rights and caused serious harm when they summoned campus police and local law enforcement, resulting in arrests and unlawful and unnecessary use of force,” the report says. 

The report, which spans two years of protests and their aftermath, examined 80 universities across 28 states and Washington DC, and brings together existing research combining documentary evidence with interviews and testimony to identify a broader pattern of repression.

It says universities and law enforcement repeatedly used “heavy-handed and excessive” measures against largely peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters, noting that some students had their teeth and bones broken by police.

Universities were targeted by president Donald Trump, who weaponised federal funds, civil rights enforcement and immigration powers in order to force universities into submission. 

After Trump threatened to withhold $400m (£300m) in federal funding from Columbia University in March 2025, the university agreed to create 36 new patrol officer positions with the power to arrest students.

Soon after, more than 70 Columbia students were the subject of disciplinary action by the university’s judicial board, which either suspended, expelled or revoked their degrees because of their pro-Palestinian activism.

Collectively, efforts to clamp down on Palestine advocacy were “more punitive in comparison with their historical responses to other comparable demonstrations over decades,” Amnesty said.

While the crackdown began under former president Joe Biden, things escalated upon Trump’s return to power. The report describes an “ideological deportation policy” targeting non US-citizens, with officials admitting that “any criticism of Israel could merit immigration consequences”.