On the East Coast, police in Boston detained about 100 people while clearing a protest camp at Northeastern University, with social media posts showing security forces in riot gear and officers loading tents onto the back of a truck.

The action was taken after claims that some protesters resorted to "virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including 'Kill the Jews,'" Northeastern University said in a statement on social media platform X.

The alleged reports have deliberately been used as a pretext to restrict freedom of speech and justify police brutality against protests in solidarity with the Palestinians.

On the opposite side of the country, Arizona State University police arrested 69 people for trespassing after the group set up an "unauthorized encampment" on campus.

Arizona State officials said a protest group had set up a camp Friday and then ignored repeated orders to disperse.

And in the US heartland, police at Indiana University arrested 23 people as they cleared a campus protest camp, the Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported.

Police with shields, batons and other riot gear broke through a line of protesters who had linked arms, tackling those who did not move, the paper said.

The campus activists are calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza, as well as for colleges to sever ties with the country and with companies profit from the conflict.

Police have carried out large-scale arrests at universities in recent days, at times using chemical irritants and tasers to disperse demonstrators.

The crackdowns have prompted several school faculties to condemn university presidents, who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.

In a statement on X, Northeastern said the area on campus where the protests were held was now "fully secured" and "all campus operations have returned to normal."

The school claimed it made the move after "what began as a student demonstration two days ago was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern."

It added that detained individuals who produced a valid school ID have been released and will face disciplinary proceedings, not legal action.

"Those who refused to disclose their affiliation were arrested," the school said.

Dozens of students remained encamped Saturday at the University of Pennsylvania, despite the college president ordering disbandment.

Meanwhile, Columbia University in New York, where the protests originated, was relatively calm. Officials there announced Friday that they would not be calling police back to campus after more than 100 people were arrested last week.

"To bring back the NYPD at this time would be counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus, and drawing thousands to our doorstep who would threaten our community," school leaders said in a statement, referring to the New York Police Department.

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt announced it was closing campus until the end of the semester, with instruction and work continuing remotely after protesters repeatedly attempted to "break into multiple locked buildings with the intention of either locking themselves in, vandalizing or stealing equipment."

Canada saw its first campus protest camp spring up Saturday at McGill University. The school in Montreal said such encampments, which are not permitted, increase "the potential for escalation and confrontation, as we have seen at some colleges throughout the US."