Barbara Tasch
Live reporter

We will now be pausing this page.

Thanks for joining our coverage of the unrest at campuses across the US.

Here's what to know about today's events:

• Law enforcement went in and cleared a number of pro-Palestinian camps, notably at UCLA
• Clashes erupted between police and protestors as the camps were stormed and dismantled
• Dozens of students and faculty were arrested and put on LAPD buses, many were seen on the ground with their hands zip-tied behind their backs
• US President Joe Biden said students were free to protest but not "cause chaos"
• Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have now spread to dozens of campuses in the US and also some in Canada. There have been more than 1,000 arrests over the last few days
• Columbia University in New York, where hundreds of police officers dismantled a camp earlier this week, has said it will hold final exams remotely
• Police moved in to remove protesters from the campus library at Portland State University in Oregon
• Other universities have reached compromises with protestors to stop demonstrations

The page was edited by Owen Amos, Emily Atkinson, Jessica Murphy, Tiffany Wertheimer and me. The writers were Sean Seddon, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Ben Hatton, Seher Asaf, Gabriela Pomeroy, Rachel Looker, Hollie Cole, Ece Goksedef and Joe McFadden.

The governor of Oregon, has issued a statement following "criminal actions" in Portland over the past 24 hours. That includes the burning of police cars at a training facility, but there is no indication at this point that this is connected to the protest at Portland State University:

”I fully condemn the criminal actions taken Thursday morning that resulted in the burning of 15 Portland Police Bureau cars, endangering first responders and the surrounding community.

"I have absolutely no tolerance for discriminatory harassment, violence, or property damage. This includes the acts of vandalism seen this week at the Portland State University library and against nearby businesses.

"These actions are in direct opposition to Oregon values and threaten working people, families, businesses, and our community as a whole.

"The Oregon State Police have launched a response on the outer perimeter of Portland State University. The state is prepared to exercise the full extent of the law.”

We've just got a statement from the Pulitzer Prize Board - which gives prestigious awards for journalism - on the reporting of the protests by student journalists at Columbia University:

New York Police Department (NYPD) say they arrested 282 people on Tuesday night from both the City University of New York and Columbia University.

They have released information showing some of those arrested were well above the average age of university students - 90 of those arrested are in their 30s and 40s, and 3 are over 50.

The police also have more details on the reasons people were arrested:

• 115 people were detained for disorderly conduct
• 3 for assault and
• 48 for burglary

Around one in 10 of those arrested had been detained on previous occasions for unlawful protest actions - and the vast majority of them are aged 22 years and above - older than undergraduate student age.

Students at Columbia University will be taking their final exams remotely following the nearly 300 arrests during on-campus protests earlier this week.

In an email, University Provost Angela Olinto wrote that all academic activities - including classes, reviews, office hours and finals - will be fully remote for the remainder of the semester.

Jewish students at Colombia University in New York have been talking to the BBC World Service about their experiences being on campus during these protests.

Eliana Goldin says she avoids going on campus at the moment.

“I was yelled at to ‘go back to Poland’ and I was yelled at '[expletive] the Jews'”, she says.

Her classmate Ariana Pinkser-Lehrer thinks “some protestors are glorying Hamas which committed heinous violence against my people. This is not a peace movement.”

Melissa Saidak, who is studying social work, says protestors shouted at her when they saw her wearing a dog tag in support of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“I’ve been yelled at and called a Zionist which for them is a slur," she says, "and I've been called a murderer and a killer and a lot of assumptions have been made about me."

She says that when it happens, she keeps on walking to avoid confrontation.

Image source, Getty Images

Police at Portland State University are trying to clear the library which had been taken over by protesters who used furniture to barricade themselves inside.

Police have made two arrests outside the library and are still trying to clear the library. They said attempts to speak with the protesters inside were unsuccessful.

The university has warned those who remain inside the library that they are criminally trespassing.

As well as Israel, the protest on this campus have also stemmed from ties the university has with aerospace company Boeing, which was once headquartered on the west coast.

University President Ann Cudd wrote a letter to the campus community earlier this week announcing the university will pause gifts or grants from Boeing until they meet to debate at a forum later this month.

Over to the University of Minnesota now, where the administration has announced it has reached a deal with pro-Palestinian student organisations to remove an encampment on its campus.

The university says in a statement that in addition, the student coalition has agreed they will not disrupt upcoming final exams and commencements.

In return, the university says it has agreed to a number of actions, including a commitment to allow representatives of the student group to address the board of regents to advocate for divestment.

The university also says that no one will face criminal charges and that it will not pursue disciplinary action against those who were involved.

Other universities have already reached compromises with protesters. The University of Vermont agreed to disclose a list of its investments, while Northwestern University and Brown have also reached agreements to remove encampments.

Our colleagues on the BBC News channel have just spoken to UCLA student Kenza who has been involved in the protests on campus, which she described as being "like a war scene".

"All we were doing was shining a light on the voices of Palestinians that have been overheard for 75 years," she says.

Speaking after Biden's speech a few moments ago, she says the encampment at the university was "completely peaceful".

"It's absolutely ridiculous that we would be deemed as a threat to civil society when the reality is we have been harassed for the past week, we have been attacked multiple times."

We are now briefly turning to the war in Gaza, the reason behind the university protests across the US.

Sanabel is 16 years old and lives in Gaza City, she has lost about half her family members and most of her friends.

She spoke to BBC OS radio a few times and she often shares how she came to terms with the possibility of dying, how she felt the world did not care about what was happening to her and how she had to stay strong and positive for her little sister.

Today, she talked to us on how she felt about the protests on US campuses:

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will be holding a hearing later this month following the protests on college campuses throughout the US.

The hearing, entitled "Calling for Accountability: Stopping Anti-Semitic College Chaos", will include testimonies from university presidents from Yale, UCLA and Michigan.

“The Committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students," Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, said in a statement earlier this week.

The hearing is scheduled for 23 May.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

In his brief remarks, Joe Biden said that both free speech and the rule of law must be upheld. But he spent most of his time talking about the rule of law – and about what did not qualify as free speech and expression.

Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses and forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation – all do not qualify as peaceful protest, the president said.

“There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos,” he said.

Left unaddressed was the reason students across the US have been setting up camps and taking to the streets to demonstrate.

Biden made no attempt to explain or defend his administration’s policies toward Israel and the war in Gaza.

He made no attempt to give the students a reason to stop protesting. He just said that if they crossed the line in their demonstrations, there would be consequences.

A senior White House official tells CBS News, BBC's US partner, that the president wanted to speak out this morning given the "number of violent incidents over the past 48 hours."

The senior official says the president wanted to speak out today, "to discourage violence and ensure that protests remain peaceful."

Here are a few more lines from Biden's remarks.

He says students have the right to protest but not "cause chaos."

Students have "the right to walk across campus safely without fear of being attacked", the US president says.

He adds that there is "no place in America for anti-Semitism or threats of violence against Jewish students" and no place for Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.

Biden gave a very short speech, following very brief answers to two questions while he was on his way out of the Roosevelt Room.

When asked whether the protests would change his position on Gaza, he said no, and continued to walk towards the door.

While walking, he was asked if the national guard should intervene, he also responded briefly saying "No".

Image source, Reuters

Biden says it's against the law when violence occurs during protests.

“Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is,” he says.

"Destroying property is not a peaceful protest," he adds.

"Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations. None of this is a peaceful protest."

Biden starts his remarks on the protests that have swept across campuses in the US by saying "We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or we squash dissent."

"In fact peaceful protests is the best tradition but neither are we a lawless country, and order must prevail," he adds.

Biden then goes on to say that "American people were hurt".

Joe Biden now takes the podium and his remarks are beginning.

As police break up demonstrations across the US, other protests have been taking place throughout the world.

Many are part of wider May Day or International Workers Day marches, whilst some have been inspired by the student movement's actions in the US.

Image source, AFP

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA Media