Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupation

A police operation was under way on Tuesday morning to evict dozens of protesters from the main building of the Athens University School of Law in the city center.

Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have upended college campuses across the United States, began suspending student demonstrators on Monday after they defied an ultimatum to disperse.

Police detained nearly 200 people at the U.S. universities over the weekend as they cleared pro-Palestinian encampments, in the latest campus clashes triggered by protests over Israel's war against Hamas.

Across the United States, a groundswell of student protests in solidarity with Palestinians is gaining momentum, sparking both cancellations of classes and clashes with authorities on campuses nationwide.