Abandoned 'Gaza solidarity encampments' at American colleges are now litter-strewn landfills with crushed tents and trash

Campus crews have been left to clean up abandoned Gaza encampments at U.S. colleges after police broke up protests and arrested demonstrators who left their litter behind.

Over 200 protesters were arrested and one officer was injured after a tense standoff between anti-Israel protesters and police at UCLA on Thursday morning.

Police ripped apart tents and umbrellas being used as shields, while those detained left behind posters and camping supplies.

The front of Royce Hall and Powell Library was covered in graffiti and leftover supplies were sprawled along the area including batteries, flashlights, food and plywood. 

'UCLA facilities teams are now in the process of taking down structures and cleaning up the quad, and we ask that students, staff and faculty continue to avoid the area,' the university said.

UCLA crews use a bulldozer to remove the remnants of the Gaza encampment

Workers from UCLA strategically clearing out the encampment, sorting out items of value from the garbage

Police walk by as people work to clean garbage left by anti-Israel protesters at UCLA

Tents and trash are left behind at the site of a pro-Palestinian encampment

The front of Royce Hall and Powell Library was covered in graffiti and garbage

Piles of trash build up as crews work to clean up the UCLA Gaza encampment

Classes on Thursday and Friday are being held remotely, while crews from the university worked to clean up the mess. 

All campus employees were 'encouraged to work remotely wherever possible.' 

Video taken by SkyFOX showed workers from UCLA strategically clearing out the encampment and sorting out items of value from the garbage.

Objects, including water bottles, were thrown at officers according to a CHP spokesperson.

Campus police are present while crews operate bulldozers to remove the remnants of the broken down encampment. 

There have been at least 2,138 arrests from at least 60 colleges and institution across the country, according to an NBC News tally.

Portland police have arrested at least 12 people at Portland State University where people barricaded themselves inside the library on Thursday.

Photos show broken ceilings and graffiti inside and outside of the library.  Barricades made of soccer goal posts, overturned tables, chairs and other items continued to obstruct the library entrance, and walls inside have been spray-painted with graffiti.

'We have found caches of tools, what appears to be improvised weapons, ball bearings, paint balloons, spray bottles of ink, and DIY armor,' said the Portland Police Bureau.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel´s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

Portland police have arrested at least 12 people at Portland State University where people barricaded themselves inside the library on Thursday

Photos show broken ceilings and graffiti inside and outside of the library

Private security and NYPD police officers stand guard at the gates of Columbia University in the aftermath of clearing its Gaza encampment

In New York, Stony Brook University officials said 29 people were arrested early Thursday morning, including students, faculty members and others not affiliated with the school. School administrators said the protests began peacefully but escalated to include intimidation, harassment and an encampment.

Columbia University protesters smashed windows, upended furniture and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during the occupation before police stormed the campus and arrested more than 100 protestors Tuesday night.

Pictures and video taken of the aftermath show the hall's trashed interior strewn with activists' belongings. 

Police stormed Hamilton Hall through an upstairs window after students used furniture to barricade the entrance.

Pictures show how chairs and desks have been turned upside down to become makeshift barriers. The cost of damage to the building is likely to total thousands of dollars.

The University of Texas said Thursday that 17 people were arrested on criminal trespass charges Wednesday after demonstrators refused to comply with orders to take down an encampment built on the main walkway of the Dallas campus.

At the University of Pennsylvania and at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, officers lined up to separate opposing camps of demonstrators. Both sides waved flags as they supported Israel and opposed the war in Gaza.

Over 200 protesters were arrested and one officer was injured after a tense standoff between anti-Israel protesters and police at UCLA on Thursday morning

Police ripped apart tents and umbrellas being used as shields, while those detained left behind posters and camping supplies

The front of Royce Hall and Powell Library was covered in graffiti and garbage and leftover supplies were sprawled along the area

Objects, including water bottles, were thrown at officers according to a CHP spokesperson

President Joe Biden has finally addressed the chaos caused by pro-Palestinian protesters at college campuses across the country.

'Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It's against the law,' he said from the Roosevelt Room Thursday. 'Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows and shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation. None of this is peaceful protest.'

'There's the right to protest,' he continued. 'But not the right to cause chaos.'

Biden spoke after police brawled with protesters while smashing through barricades at UCLA's Gaza encampment after hundreds of anti-Israel students defied orders to leave.

'We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,' Biden said. 'The American people are heard. In fact, peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues.'

'But, but neither are we a lawless country. We are a civil society. And order must prevail,' the president continued.