Mass Arrests at Columbia, Blinken's Mideast Visit, Florida's New Abortion Law

What's next for pro-Palestinian student protesters who camped out for weeks?

Ami Martinez, this is Up First from NPR News.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the Middle East working to reach a Gaza

ceasefire.

The only reason that that wouldn't be achieved is because of Hamas.

And Florida's six-week abortion ban takes effect today, with exceptions only in rare

circumstances.

The law's supporters hope it's a new day.

We really want to appeal to young mothers to basically think differently about the issue.

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after students first pitched their tents and the campus building that protesters had seized

is now empty.

New York City police used force last night to zip tie the hands of dozens of student

protesters and haul them away in buses.

NYPD also carried out mass arrests at nearby City College of New York.

NPR's Brian Mann was on the street at Columbia.

Brian, what did you see?

They were chanting anti-Israel slogans and calling for divestment from doing business

with Israel.

At one point, a student appeared on top of Hamilton Hall, that's the building they occupied

Monday night.

That student waved a Palestinian flag.

But then around 9.30 p.m. last night, a huge number of NYPD officers in riot gear charged

the campus.

And the student crowd fell back.

They were clearly frightened.

The NYPD used a massive armored vehicle to push a bridge into a window of Hamilton Hall.

Officers then streamed over that bridge into a window, quickly retaking the building.

How did students react to all this?

I spoke to one student who was stunned by the overwhelming force.

She wouldn't give her name because she fears reprisal by Columbia University.

NYPD came and deployed themselves onto our campus.

penalty.

protest?

other students.

a violent spectacle.

Campus officials say they want the NYPD to now remain on campus to maintain security.

of New York.

What happened there?

in to round up student protesters.

Here's what that sounded like.

If you do not accompany the arresting officer voluntarily to the prisoner transport vehicle,

or resist arrest, you may be charged with additional crime.

And a NPR's Jasmine Garst and Quill Lawrence watched there as police clashed with protesters

and used pepper spray.

Large number of students again hauled away.

Any sense of what people are saying about this show forced by the NYPD?

have condemned these protests, describing them as unlawful and anti-Semitic.

That's a charge many students reject.

There's also been a lot of community support for these encampments.

NPR spoke last night with Lena Witte, who watched this police action.

She's a graduate of City College.

They're putting their jobs, their diplomas at risk, because they know that they're fighting

Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza continues.

In Oregon, Portland State University closed its campus yesterday after protesters took

over a library building.

At UCLA in Los Angeles, police in riot gear arrived on campus early this morning because

of clashes overnight between rival protest groups.

And one other very different development yesterday, students at Brown University in Rhode Island

agreed to end their protest.

They took that step after school officials said they'll hold a vote next October on possible

divestment from Israel.

Brian, thank you.

He's pressing for more aid to Palestinians in Gaza and a hostage deal.

We're determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home and to get it now.

And the only reason that that wouldn't be achieved is because of Hamas.

He's not the only one ramping up the pressure.

Israel is still threatening to move on Rafa in southern Gaza, despite U.S. opposition.

And Hamas has been releasing videos of some of the hostages, including two Americans.

NPR's Michelle Kellerman joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Michelle, how confident is Blinken that a new deal can be reached?

Israel has put a strong proposal on the table, and it's up to Hamas, he says.

But there are a lot of complicating factors, A. Some in the Israeli cabinet are threatening

to collapse the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to a long ceasefire

with Hamas.

Hamas, as you said, has been stepping up the pressure with those hostage videos.

Two Americans were shown in those videos last week, including Keith Siegel.

His brother Lee described the video as a window of hope.

He spoke to us in hostage square this week.

He broke down during that.

And for me, actually, that was a sign of this is not some robot up there reading something

off.

Maybe he was forced to say some things, but he wasn't forced to break down.

are really critical of those in Netanyahu's government who don't want to make this deal.

And Blinken met up with some of them who were gathered outside his hotel today.

What's Blinken saying about that?

go from Jordan into a crossing into northern Gaza directly.

He also says that a pier the U.S. is building could be up and running in the next week.

So he thinks things are moving in the right direction.

Remember, we're almost seven months into this war, and there's also growing pressure from

inside the U.S. government to come to a determination that Israel is not letting enough aid in and

is not complying with international humanitarian law as required to receive U.S. funding.

Israel is pushing back on that.

Blinken says there's been progress on aid, but just not enough yet.

There are over a million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah.

They're worried about an Israeli ground incursion.

Is Blinken bringing a message to Israel on that?

ceasefire and hostage deal now.

Netanyahu has been vowing to deal with the Hamas battalions in Rafah with or without

the hostage deal.

The U.N. secretary general says a military assault on Rafah would be, in his words, an

unbearable escalation.

President Biden and Secretary Blinken and many others have been pressing the Israelis for

weeks now to come up with a real plan to protect civilians.

But Palestinians say they just have nowhere else to go.

And as everyone talks about this, Israel does continue to strike homes in Rafah.

Each day we learn about families killed in airstrikes, even as these preparations for

a ground incursion continue.

Michelle, thank you.

Thank you.

It's the one the state Supreme Court upheld last month.

It prohibits abortions after six weeks, except in rare circumstances.

And it's going to shape the reproductive rights debate in Florida ahead of the November election.

That's when voters will decide whether to restore abortion access deeper into pregnancy.

Stephanie Colombini with Member Station WUSF joins us now from Tampa.

Stephanie, Florida had been one of the last states in the South to allow for abortions

after a few weeks.

How have providers and abortion rights advocates been preparing for this day?

their hours to get in as many patients who are approaching six weeks of pregnancy as

they can.

But it's tough.

Florida also requires patients to come in twice for care, first for a consultation and

then again for the procedure at least 24 hours later.

I talked to Barbara Jarecki.

She runs Planned Parenthood centers in Southwest and Central Florida.

She says a lot of people don't even realize they're pregnant by six weeks.

to be great.

Others will travel out of state for abortions, but they're going to have to go far because

so many other Southern states also have bans.

And residents in those places have relied on Florida for care until now.

There's some independent groups known as abortion funds that help people travel to states with

access.

But, you know, that's complicated and expensive.

What have they been saying?

I talked with John Stemberger, president of Legal Counsel Action.

It's a group that opposes abortion, and he says they've been working to help what are

known as crisis pregnancy centers in Florida encourage people not to get abortions.

These centers are often run by religious groups, but they also get state funding and they advise

people to consider parenting or adoption instead.

consider a crisis pregnancy to basically think differently about the issue.

information.

Then another priority for people who support abortion restrictions is to convince Floridians

to vote against a proposal that could overturn the six-week ban, and that's going to appear

on the November ballot.

Yeah, right.

Tell us about that ballot measure.

So it's known as Amendment 4, and it asks voters whether to allow abortion access until

fetal viability, which that's usually around 24 weeks, or when a patient's health care

provider determines it's necessary.

Now, opponents say the proposal is extreme and say the wording will mislead voters, but

the state Supreme Court ruled the language is clear.

Megan Jaffe runs the Chicago Abortion Fund, and she works with partners in Florida.

She is excited about the initiative, but she does worry that people may focus their resources

on getting that passed and then forget the pregnant people affected by the ban now.

didn't want to.

Sixty percent of voters need to approve the amendment for it to pass, and that is a higher

threshold than in some other states that have passed ballot measures on abortion access.

Thank you very much.

I'm E. Martinez.

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