Crackdowns intensify on pro-Palestine campus protests as hundreds arrested

Tensions continue after night of unrest at UCLA and Columbia, as New York mayor blames outside agitators' for escalation

• US campus protests - live updates
• Protests at university campuses across the US - in pictures

Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after campus hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about outside agitators" driving escalation.

The number of arrests of student protesters had exceeded an estimated 1,300 by Wednesday afternoon since the start of the latest bout of protests two weeks ago, as more students were detained. This added to tallies by the Associated Press and Axios earlier on Wednesday, across more than 30 campuses, coast to coast and north to south.