About 300 people have been arrested during police crackdowns on protests at US universities.

In the early hours of Wednesday, police were called into Columbia University in New York, and also broke up protests at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as demos over the Israel-Hamas war reached boiling point.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said about 300 people were arrested at Columbia and nearby City College.

Columbia’s Hamilton Hall was occupied by protesters and Mayor Adams said this particular group was “led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university”.

“There is a movement to radicalize young people,” he said. “And I’m not going to wait until it is done to acknowledge the existence of it.”

On the west coast, all classes at UCLA were cancelled on Wednesday due to “distress” caused by the overnight violence, according to a notice on its website.

Students and staff have been advised to avoid Royce Quad, the area where clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters resulted in police wielding pepper spray being drafted in.

Pro-Palestinian protesters had erected barricades and plywood for protection, which counter-protesters tried to pull down.

The protesters shoved and kicked one another, sometimes beating people with sticks or throwing chairs.

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Sky News US correspondent Martha Kelner, reporting from UCLA, said: “Just look at this scene on a US university campus – California highway patrol wearing riot shields, riot masks, gas masks underneath their helmets.”

She said they were wearing gas masks “because throughout the course of the evening from inside this encampment, or at least the vicinity, a substance was released, I think, probably, pepper spray”.

“But the police here are not taking any chances, wearing gas masks – preparing, I guess, potentially to access this encampment.”

She said a protester appeared to pray at the feet of officers, adding: “She’s a pro-Palestinian protester. She’s refusing to move for the California Highway Patrol.

“She appears to be kneeling down, perhaps in prayer, at the feet of the patrol.

“It is a remarkable sight to see. These are scarcely fathomable scenes on a US university campus.”

By 5am local time, Kelner said the “volatile” situation at the campus had calmed down.

‘Occupied, vandalised, and blockaded’

On the other side of the country, police in riot gear raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.

About 30 to 40 people were removed from the Manhattan university’s Hamilton Hall, according to police.

Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.

The raid came hours after Mayor Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now”.

University bosses said they called in police after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.

“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” a spokesman said.

“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.

“We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”

Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

“Columbia will be proud of these students in five years,” said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.

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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening.

Officers were also seen entering the window of a building via a police-branded ladder vehicle nicknamed “the bear”.

Protests have also spread to other campuses around the country.

Dozens were arrested on Monday at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.

The president of the University of Southern California, also based in Los Angeles, issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on campus.

“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.

“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community.

“We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has said President Biden believes students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.

Hollywood star Melissa McCarthy has responded by saying, “I win the day”, after Barbra Streisand was criticised for asking her if she had taken a weight-loss drug.

Bridesmaids star McCarthy had posted an image of herself on Instagram at a charity gala alongside US director Adam Shankman on Monday.

Streisand, the legendary singer and actress, replied in a comment below: “Give him my regards, did you take Ozempic?”

The drug can only be prescribed for patients with Type 2 diabetes and is not licensed as a weight-loss treatment in the UK or US.

Streisand posted an apology on X for her original comment which was swiftly deleted after it sparked a backlash online.

In a short video shared on Instagram, hours after the apology, McCarthy said: “The takeaway: Barbra Streisand knows I exist, she reached out to me and she thought I looked good. I win the day.”

McCarthy was holding up a magazine with Streisand on the cover in the video, which was filmed at the premiere of the new Netflix movie Unfrosted, in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 53-year-old will appear in the film alongside Jerry Seinfield and Hugh Grant when it is released this month.

McCarthy was earlier asked by a photographer in Los Angeles what she thought of Streisand’s comments and replied: “I think Barbra is a treasure, and I love her.”

‘I forgot the world is reading’

Streisand, 82, had said in her apology earlier on Tuesday: “I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday.

“Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy, who I sang with on my Encore album.

“She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment, I forgot the world is reading!”

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In response to Streisand’s original comment referring to Ozempic, one social media user wrote: “Omg somebody please teach Barbra Streisand how to send a DM.”

Another wrote: “Omg…this comment from Barbra Streisand. Yes, it’s real, but she’s deleted it.”

Ozempic works by suppressing the appetite and lengthens the amount of time food stays in the stomach, leading to weight loss – at least for as long as you carry on taking it.

It has been banned as a treatment for obesity in the UK due to high demand for the drug causing a global shortage.

Numerous Hollywood stars are rumoured to have used Ozempic to lose weight – but just a handful of celebrities have admitted it publicly.

Stephen Fry was prescribed the drug in the US “years ago” and said earlier this year that side effects included vomiting up to five times a day.

Oprah Winfrey has said she has also taken weight-loss drugs, though she’s declined to specify which ones.

FKA Twigs has revealed she has created an AI version of herself to engage with fans and help with promotion.

The British singer-songwriter and dancer gave details of the project as she addressed a US Senate intellectual property hearing regarding the No Fakes Act, which aims to crack down on unauthorised replicas.

FKA Twigs, whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, confirmed she had been developing her own AI – but condemned unauthorised deepfakes, saying they leave her feeling “raw and vulnerable”.

The hearing was held in Washington on Tuesday, just hours before the release of a UK report which found that most of the public want regulation to prevent deepfakes of big-name artists such as Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift.

Speaking at the US hearing, FKA Twigs said she had been developing a digital clone of herself over the past year, revealing that it can speak multiple languages.

“I’ve done this to be able to reach more of my fans and to be able to speak to them in the nuance of their language,” she said. “I’ve currently explored French, Korean and Japanese, which is really exciting for me. It means that even with my upcoming album I can really explain in depth what it’s about creatively.”

The 36-year-old said having an AI version of herself also allows her to “spend more time making art”.

She continued: “Often being a music artist, or any artist in this day and age, requires a lot of press and a lot of promo, a lot of one-liners.

“So it means if it’s something simple that doesn’t really require my heart, I can do a one-liner and give it to people to promote a piece of work and, you know, it’s harmless but ultimately I can spend more time making something that’s really meaningful for my fans.”

‘I am a human being, and we have to protect that’

Addressing unauthorised deepfakes, she told the hearing about songs and collaborations with other artists that exist online, which she had nothing to do with.

“The fact that somebody could take my voice, change lyrics, change messaging, maybe work with an artist that I didn’t want to work with, or maybe work with an artist that I wanted to work with and now the surprise is ruined, it really leaves me very raw and very vulnerable,” she said.

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The star called for legislation to protect artists and added: “My spirit, my artist and my brand is my brand, and I’ve spent years developing it.

“And it’s mine, it doesn’t belong to anybody else to be used in a commercial sense, or cultural sense, or even just for a laugh. I am me, I am a human being, and we have to protect that.”

Unacknowledged AI music: Is it theft?

Meanwhile, a poll by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music has found that 83% of UK adults agree that a music artist’s creative “personality” should be protected in law against AI copies.

The research involving more than 2,000 adults also found that 83% agree with the statement that if AI has been used to generate a song it must be clearly labelled, and 77% believe it amounts to theft when generated music fails to acknowledge the creator of the original.

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APPG recommendations include the government introducing a UK AI Act, generated music being clearly labelled, the creation of a personality right to protect creators and artists from deepfakes, misappropriation and false endorsement, and setting up an international taskforce.

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to helping artists and the creative industries work with the AI sector to harness the opportunities this technology provides, and ensure our music can continue to be enjoyed around the world.”

In April, more than 200 artists signed an open letter objecting to the “predatory” use of AI to “steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses”.