0:03

The Columbia University lawn is cleared

0:05

out this morning after mass arrests

0:07

overnight. What's

0:11

next for pro-Palestinian student protesters who

0:13

camped out for weeks? I mean,

0:15

Martinez, this is up first from

0:17

NPR News. Secretary

0:22

of State Antony Blinken is back in the

0:24

Middle East working to reach a Gaza ceasefire.

0:27

The only reason that that

0:29

wouldn't be achieved is because of Hamas. And

0:31

Florida's six-week abortion ban takes effect

0:33

today with exceptions only in rare

0:35

circumstances. The law's supporters hope it's

0:37

a new day. We really want

0:40

to appeal to young mothers to

0:42

basically think differently about the issue.

0:44

Opponents are bracing for emotional turmoil.

0:46

The anger, the fear, the anxiety

0:49

is going to be great. Stay with us. We'll give you

0:51

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FDIC. The pro-Palestinian

2:26

encampment at Columbia University is gone

2:28

this morning, two weeks after students

2:30

first pitched their tents. And the

2:33

campus building that protesters had seized

2:35

is now empty. New York

2:37

City police used force last night to zip

2:39

tie the hands of dozens of student protesters

2:41

and hold them away in buses. NYPD

2:44

also carried out mass arrests at nearby

2:46

City College of New York. NPR's

2:48

Brian Mann was on the street at Columbia.

2:50

Brian, what did you see? The

2:53

teachers of students were defiant at first day. They

2:56

were chanting anti-Israel slogans and calling for

2:58

divestment from doing business with Israel. At

3:08

one point, a student appeared on top

3:10

of Hamilton Hall. That's the building they

3:12

occupied Monday night. That student waved a

3:14

Palestinian flag. But then around 9.30 p.m.

3:16

last night, a

3:19

huge number of NYPD officers in riot

3:21

gear charged the campus. And

3:26

the student crowd fell back. They

3:28

were clearly frightened. The NYPD

3:30

used a massive armored vehicle to push

3:32

a bridge into a window of Hamilton

3:34

Hall. Officers then streamed over that bridge

3:36

into a window, quickly retaking the building.

3:39

Wow, what a scene. How did students

3:41

react to all this? Yeah,

3:43

it was shock and dismay. I spoke

3:45

to one student who was stunned by the overwhelming force. ourselves

4:00

onto our campus. And many of

4:02

these students now face suspension and expulsion,

4:04

some likely also facing criminal penalties. So

4:07

did Columbia University offer any explanation as

4:09

to why they called in the NYPD

4:11

to end this protest? Yeah,

4:13

at a press conference yesterday, Columbia

4:15

spokesman Ben Chang said protesters were

4:18

frightening other students. Disruptions on campus

4:20

have created a threatening environment for

4:22

many, including our Jewish students

4:24

and faculty. And New York City Mayor

4:26

Eric Adams also condemned the student protests

4:28

yesterday, calling them a violent spectacle. Campus

4:31

officials say they want the NYPD to

4:33

now remain on campus to maintain security.

4:36

Last night, New York police also made

4:38

arrests outside a student camp at the

4:40

City College of New York. What happened

4:42

there? Yeah, a mile away from Columbia

4:44

University, another huge NYPD force swept in

4:46

to round up student protesters. Here's what

4:48

that sounded like. They should not accompany

4:50

the elected officer, law and peril, to

4:53

the prison of police for a vehicle,

4:55

or to arrest the community charged with

4:57

additional crime. And NPR's

4:59

Jasmine Garza and Quill Lawrence watched there

5:02

as police clashed with protesters and used

5:04

pepper spray. Large number of

5:06

students, again, hauled away. Wow, so a lot

5:08

happening. Any sense of what people are saying

5:10

about this show, forced by the NYPD? You

5:13

know, many politicians in New York

5:15

City, including bipartisan members of Congress,

5:17

condemned these protests, describing them as

5:19

unlawful and anti-Semitic. That's a charge

5:21

many students reject. There's also

5:23

been a lot of community support for

5:25

these encampments. NPR spoke last night with

5:28

Lena Whitty, who watched this police action.

5:30

She's a graduate of City College. These

5:32

students are putting their lives at risk. They're putting

5:34

their jobs, their diplomas at risk, because they know

5:36

that they're fighting for something bigger, which is the

5:39

right to life for Palestinians. This

5:41

huge police action mirrors hundreds of

5:43

other student arrests around the country.

5:45

And as Israel's war against Hamas

5:48

and Gaza continues, in

5:50

Oregon, Portland State University closed its

5:52

campus yesterday after protesters took over

5:54

a library building at

5:56

UCLA and Los Angeles police in riot

5:58

gear arrived on campus. as early

6:00

this morning because of clashes overnight

6:02

between rival protest groups. And

6:06

one other very different development yesterday,

6:08

students at Brown University in Rhode

6:10

Island agreed to end their protest.

6:13

They took that step after school officials

6:15

said they'll hold a vote next October

6:18

on possible divestment from Israel. All

6:20

right, that's NPR's Brian Mann. Brian, thank

6:22

you. Secretary

6:32

of State Antony Blinken is back

6:34

in Israel today. He's pressing for

6:37

more aid to Palestinians in Gaza

6:39

and a hostage deal. We're determined

6:41

to get the ceasefire that brings the hostages

6:43

home and to get it now. And

6:46

the only reason that that wouldn't

6:48

be achieved is because of Hamas. He's

6:50

not the only one ramping up the

6:52

pressure. Israel is still threatening to move

6:54

on Rafa in southern Gaza despite U.S.

6:56

opposition. Hamas has been releasing

6:58

videos of some of the hostages, including

7:01

two Americans. NPR's Michelle Kellerman joins us

7:03

now from Tel Aviv. Michelle, how confident

7:05

is Blinken that a new deal can

7:07

be reached? He says

7:09

it's achievable. Israel has put a

7:12

strong proposal on the table and it's up to

7:14

Hamas, he says. But there are

7:16

a lot of complicating factors, A. Some

7:19

in the Israeli cabinet are threatening

7:21

to collapse the government if Prime

7:23

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to a

7:25

long ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas,

7:27

as you said, has been stepping

7:30

up the pressure with those hostage

7:32

videos. Two Americans were shown in

7:34

those videos last week, including Keith

7:36

Siegel. His brother Lee described

7:38

the video as a window of hope

7:41

he spoke to us in hostage square

7:43

this week. It was

7:45

an opportunity to see here

7:47

and feel him. He

7:49

broke down during that. And for

7:51

me, actually, that was a sign of this

7:53

is not some robot up there reading

7:56

something off. Maybe he was forced

7:58

to say some things. He

8:01

wasn't forced to break down. Lee

8:03

says that the U.S. government is making this

8:05

a priority, but the hostage families are really

8:07

critical of those in Netanyahu's government who

8:09

don't want to make this deal. And

8:12

Blinken met up with some of them who

8:14

are gathered outside his hotel today. Another

8:16

big diplomatic story is the humanitarian aid

8:18

to Gaza. What's Blinken's saying about that?

8:21

So Blinken went to Jordan yesterday and

8:23

he touted these new aid routes that

8:25

are starting to go from Jordan into

8:28

a crossing into northern Gaza directly. He

8:30

also says that a pier the U.S.

8:32

is building could be up and running

8:34

in the next week. So

8:36

he thinks things are moving in the right

8:39

direction. Though remember, we're almost

8:41

seven months into this war and

8:43

there's also growing pressure from inside

8:45

the U.S. government to come to

8:48

a determination that Israel is not

8:50

letting enough aid in and is

8:52

not complying with international humanitarian law

8:54

as required to receive U.S. funding.

8:57

Israel is pushing back on that. Blinken says

9:00

there's been progress on aid, but just

9:02

not enough yet. Okay, so

9:04

now let's turn to what's happening in

9:06

Gaza. There are over a million Palestinians

9:08

sheltering in Rafa and they're worried about

9:10

an Israeli ground incursion. Is Blinken bringing

9:12

a message to Israel on that? Yeah,

9:15

I mean, it's another big reason why he

9:17

and the Egyptians are pushing for this ceasefire

9:19

and hostage deal now. Netanyahu

9:21

has been vowing to deal with the

9:23

Hamas battalions in Rafa with or without

9:25

the hostage deal. The UN

9:27

Secretary General says a military assault

9:30

on Rafa would be, in his

9:32

words, an unbearable escalation. President

9:34

Biden and Secretary Blinken and many others

9:37

have been pressing the Israelis for weeks

9:39

now to come up

9:41

with a real plan to protect civilians.

9:43

But Palestinians say they just have nowhere

9:45

else to go. And as

9:47

everyone talks about this, Israel does

9:49

continue to strike homes in Rafa.

9:51

Each day we learn about families

9:54

killed in airstrikes, even

9:56

as these preparations for a

9:58

ground incursion continue. That's

10:00

NPR's Michelle Kellerman in Tel Aviv. Michelle, thank

10:02

you. Thank you, A. Florida's

10:13

new abortion law takes effect today.

10:15

It's the one the state Supreme

10:17

Court upheld last month. It prohibits

10:19

abortions after six weeks except in

10:21

rare circumstances, and it's going to

10:23

shape the reproductive rights debate in

10:25

Florida ahead of the November election.

10:27

That's when voters will decide whether

10:29

to restore abortion access deeper into

10:31

pregnancy. Stephanie Columbini with member

10:33

station WUSF joins us now from Tampa.

10:36

Stephanie, Florida had been one of the

10:38

last states in the South to allow

10:40

for abortions after a few weeks. How

10:43

have providers and abortion rights advocates been

10:45

preparing for this day? Well, a

10:47

lot of health centers that provide abortions

10:49

have increased staff and extended their hours

10:51

to get in as many patients who

10:53

are approaching six weeks of pregnancy as

10:55

they can, but it's tough. Florida

10:58

also requires patients to come in twice

11:00

for care, first for a consultation, and

11:02

then again for the procedure at least

11:05

24 hours later. I talked

11:07

to Barbara Jarecki. She runs Planned Parenthood

11:09

centers in Southwest and Central Florida. She

11:11

says a lot of people don't even

11:13

realize they're pregnant by six weeks. So

11:16

the emotional turmoil that's going

11:18

to happen, the anger, the fear,

11:20

the anxiety, is going to

11:22

be great. So some people will have to

11:24

continue their pregnancies. Others will travel

11:27

out of state for abortions, but they're

11:29

going to have to go far because

11:31

so many other southern states also have

11:33

bans, and residents in those places had

11:35

relied on Florida for care until now.

11:37

There's some independent groups known as abortion

11:39

funds that help people travel to states

11:42

with access, but you know that's complicated

11:44

and expensive. Now opponents of abortion rights advocated

11:46

for this ban. What have they been saying? They

11:49

say the ban quote protects life. I

11:51

talked with John Stemberger, president

11:53

of legal council action. It's a group that

11:55

opposes abortion, and he says they've been working

11:58

to help what are known as crisis

12:00

pregnancy centers in Florida encourage people

12:02

not to get abortions. These

12:04

centers are often run by religious groups,

12:07

but they also get state funding, and

12:09

they advise people to consider parenting or

12:11

adoption instead. We really want to

12:13

appeal to young mothers or even older mothers

12:15

who are in, we would consider a crisis

12:17

pregnancy to basically think differently about the issue.

12:20

But some crisis pregnancy centers have

12:22

been known to spread misleading or

12:24

inaccurate medical information. Another

12:27

priority for people who support abortion restrictions is

12:29

to convince Floridians to vote against a proposal

12:31

that could overturn the six-week ban, and that's

12:33

going to appear on the November ballot. Yeah,

12:36

right. That's the other part of this big

12:38

debate in Florida. Tell us about that ballot

12:40

measure. Sure. So it's known as

12:43

Amendment 4, and it asks voters

12:45

whether to allow abortion access until

12:47

fetal viability, which that's usually around

12:49

24 weeks, or

12:51

when a patient's health care provider determines

12:53

it's necessary. Now, opponents say the proposal

12:55

is extreme and say the wording will

12:58

mislead voters, but the state Supreme Court

13:00

ruled the language is clear. Megan

13:02

J. Phil runs the Chicago Abortion Fund,

13:05

and she works with partners in Florida.

13:07

She is excited about the initiative, but

13:09

she does worry that people may focus

13:11

their resources on getting that passed and

13:13

then forget the pregnant people affected by

13:15

the ban now. Because it will

13:17

be one on the backs of those people, and

13:19

people will give birth when they didn't want

13:22

to. And that's, you know, if it wins. 60%

13:25

of voters need to approve the amendment for

13:27

it to pass, and that is a higher

13:29

threshold than in some other states that have

13:31

passed ballot measures on abortion access. That

13:34

is WUSF, Stephanie Columbini. Thank you

13:36

very much. Thank you. And

13:43

that's up first for Wednesday, May 1st. Emi

13:45

Martinez, have you thought about listening to Consider

13:47

This from NPR? Her name, Judy

13:49

Dench, has played everyone from Em in the

13:51

James Bond movies to the writer Iris Murdoch.

13:54

Now, she's reflecting on the roles that have

13:56

defined her career more than any other Shakespeare's

13:58

heroines and villains. to consider

14:00

this. Today's episode of Up First was

14:02

edited by Kevin Drew, Vincent Niem, Acacia

14:04

Squires, Lisa Thompson and Ben Adler. It

14:06

was produced by Zia Buch, Ben Abrams

14:09

and Lily Quiroz. We get engineering support

14:11

from Stacey Abbott and our technical director

14:13

is Zach Coleman. As always, start your

14:15

day here with us tomorrow. Okay,

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