BOSTON — Police arrested more than 130 protesters at a pro-Palestine encampment on the UMass Amherst campus after administrators ordered the students to disperse Tuesday night, according to a statement from the university and videos documenting the clash.

As of Wednesday morning, UMass Police reported 109 people booked in charges and pending charges for about 25 others, UMass Amherst said in a statement. Details of arraignments are “forthcoming.”

The police action came just hours after student protesters formed their second encampment of the semester to push the university to divest from organizations connected to Israel.

The protesters formed their first encampment on April 29 but dismantled the next morning on threat of arrest and disciplinary action. Student organizers stated in an open letter on the UMass Students for Justine in Palestine Instagram that they reformed the camp on Tuesday “in light of the horrifying invasion of Rafah.”

In a letter to the campus community, university Chancellor Javier Reyes said the school would open a dialogue with students but the “encampment must be removed.”

“While we have told demonstrators that failure to remove the tents and barriers may result in arrests, this is not the outcome we had hoped for,” Reyes wrote Tuesday evening. “Moments ago, I asked the University of Massachusetts Police Department to begin dispersing the crowd and dismantling the encampment. Let me be clear – involving law enforcement is the absolute last resort.”

Videos from the UMass student group Young Communist League on Instagram show police in heavy gear zip-tying and arresting protesters. In one shot, police appear to tackle a protester running toward another person being restrained on the ground by three police appearing to punch and using something causing a bright flashing light.

The SJP organizers listed demands in their open letter, including wide disclosure of connections with “war profiteers” and Israel, divestments from those entities, cutting ties with the corporation Raytheon and study abroad programs in Israel, and dropping sanctions and charges for 57 students arrested during a pro-Palestine sit-in in October.

“If at any point you choose to arrest or sanction students, this offer for dialogue and negotiation is off the table,” the SJP open letter stated.

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