Columbia University has launched distance learning at its main New York campus amid tense protests that have erupted at US colleges over the war in Gaza.

The decision to expand distance learning comes as some students have reported anti-Semitic harassment around Columbia’s campus, according to the BBC.

About 133 were arrested Monday in protests at New York University. In dozens of arrests the authorities also proceeded with gatherings at Yale University, while Harvard has restricted access to the campus.

Protests over the war on Gaza have also been held at colleges in the US Midwest and on the West Coast, where one campus has been shut down.

Nine students were arrested in Minneapolis Tuesday morning as they tried to set up a protest camp in front of a library on the University of Minnesota campus.

In New York on Tuesday, several hundred protesters gathered near the NYU campus in Washington Square Park. The crowd chanted “shame, shame” and protesters criticized the New York police and university administrators.

Police were called to NYU on Monday to break up protests after university officials first warned hundreds of protesters to disperse. Authorities at NYU also reported that protesters unaffiliated with the university had shown up.

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In Columbia, officials said Tuesday that a protest camp set up on campus — also in Manhattan — is breaking the rules.

Jewish students have also expressed strong concern about anti-Semitism on and around Columbia’s campus.

On Monday, President Joe Biden said he condemned both “the anti-Semitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what is happening to the Palestinians.”