LONDON (AP) — A teenage girl was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Wednesday after stabbing a student and two teachers at a secondary school in Wales, police said.
The three victims were taken to a hospital for treatment of stab wounds after the attack at Amman Valley School in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Dyfed-Powys Police said.
“A teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and currently remains in police custody," police Superintendent Ross Evans said.
Jonathan Edwards, an independent member of Parliament from the area, said that a student was stabbed and the teachers were wounded when they tried to intervene.
Edwards said that one teacher was treated for injuries to the arm and hand and the other was transferred to a hospital in Cardiff for more serious injuries.
“It is a huge shock, isn’t it really?" Edwards told Channel 5 News. “I’d never think that anything like this could possibly happen in Carmarthenshire, in the Amman Valley where I am from. I can’t recall anything like this ever happening in Wales before.”
Evans didn't disclose details of what happened, information about the suspect or the extent of the injuries. But he said the incident was over and children had left the school.
“She said she was scared," Charlotte Rogers said of her daughter as she waited for the girl to emerge from the school following a lockdown. “She’s a tough cookie so fingers crossed. I just want to give her a big hug. I just want everyone to be safe. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Vaughan Gething, first minister of Wales, and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak both said on the social media platform X that they were shocked to learn of the attack, which was initially referred to by police as a “major incident.”
Patrick Roach, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said that it was “extremely distressing” to hear about the attack.
“No teacher should have to fear being assaulted at work and everything that can be done must be done to ensure the safety of staff and pupils," Roach said.
Police at the scene at Amman Valley school after three people were injured, in Ammanford, Wales, Wednesday April 24, 2024. Welsh police say a suspect has been arrested after three people were injured in a “major incident” at a school in Wales. Dyfed-Powys Police said Wednesday that the victims were being treated for injuries at Amman Valley School in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. Police did not disclose what happened, the nature of the injuries or why the alleged suspect was arrested. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
Students protesting the ongoing war in Gaza left a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Southern California early Sunday after they were surrounded by police and told they could face arrest if they didn’t go.
The move, days before commencement was set to begin, came after the university said campus safety officers, assisted by the Los Angeles Police Department, were clearing the area.
“If you are in the center of campus, please leave. People who don’t leave could be arrested,” USC said on the social media platform X at about 4:15 a.m.
Livestream video from student journalists showed the encampment had emptied out as police formed a line to move remaining protesters away and stop people from re-entering.
The encampment had restarted after the LAPD first arrested 93 people on April 24. The atmosphere on the private university campus had largely remained calm since then, while attention turned to arrests at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In Boston, commencement for Northeastern University began peacefully Sunday at Fenway Park. Some students waved Palestinian flags, but those were dotted among flags from India, the U.S. and other nations. Graduate students went first, with undergraduate commencement in the afternoon.
Last month, police arrested about 100 protesters at Northeastern when they broke up an encampment on the Boston campus.
At the University of Virginia, 25 people were arrested Saturday for trespassing after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.
At the Art Institute of Chicago campus, police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment hours after it was set up Saturday and arrested 68 people. Students, who attend classes in downtown buildings surrounding the museum, want the school to divest from companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war, among other demands.
The institute said the protest grew disruptive and Chicago police were called. Those arrested will be charged with criminal trespass to property, police said.
USC, a private university, has been the subject of student protests over the war as well as the administration’s decision to cancel a commencement speech by the valedictorian, a Muslim student who had expressed support for Palestinians. The university made that decision last month, citing safety concerns after receiving threats. Some Jewish groups had criticized the student’s selection as speaker.
Administrators later canceled the entire main-stage commencement planned for May 10, when 65,000 people were expected to gather. Other commencement activities, including graduation ceremonies for individual schools and colleges, are still scheduled from Thursday through Sunday. Access to the private campus has largely been restricted for people not affiliated with the university since late April.
In Charlottesville, Virginia, student demonstrators began their protest on a lawn outside the school chapel Tuesday. On Saturday, video from WVAW-TV showed police in heavy gear and holding shields lined up on campus. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” and university police said on X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared.
As police moved in, students were pushed to the ground, pulled by their arms and sprayed with a chemical irritant, Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post.
The university administration said in a statement the demonstrators were told the tents and canopies they erected were prohibited under school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to help with enforcement, the university said.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told Fox News on Sunday the police response was justified because students had been warned repeatedly to leave, were violating the school's conduct code, and that “outsiders" who were not students provided protesters with supplies like wooden barriers.
"We’ve seen folks that are not students show up in riot gear with bull horns to direct the protesters on how to flank our officers," Miyares said.
“We even see them taking water bottles, pouring half of it out, putting bear spray in the water bottles, and throwing them at these officers — basically using them as chemical agents to try to assault our officers,” he said.
It was the latest clash in several tense and sometimes violent weeks at U.S. colleges and universities that have seen dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests at demonstrations over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war; many of the encampments have been dismantled by police.
Tent encampments of protesters urging universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools reached agreements with protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.
The Associated Press has recorded at least 63 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at protests across the U.S. Nearly 2,500 people have been arrested on the campuses of 49 colleges and universities. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
The University of Michigan was among the schools bracing for protests during commencement this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern. More are slated in the coming weeks.
In Ann Arbor, there was a protest at the beginning of the event at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyehs along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle toward the stage.
They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” while holding signs, including one that read: “No universities left in Gaza.”
Overhead, planes pulled banners with competing messages. “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”
Officials said no one was arrested, and the protest didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event, attended by tens of thousands of people, some of them waving Israeli flags.
At Indiana University, protesters urged supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and walk out during remarks by school President Pamela Whitten on Saturday evening. The Bloomington campus designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, where the ceremony was held.
At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike to try to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.
One of them, senior David Chmielewski said in an email the strike started Friday with participants consuming water only, and it will continue until administrators meet with students about demands including amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters. Other demonstrators are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, Chmielewski said.
Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes this year before the more recent wave of demonstrations.
The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
Marcelo reported from New York. Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit, Nick Perry in Meredith, New Hampshire, and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed.
CORRECTS NAME TO ROUSE DAVIS BOYCE INSTEAD OF CONNOR MOORE - University of Mississippi student and counter-protester Rouse Davis Boyce, center, taunts graduate student Jaylin R. Smith with a piece of bread during a protest in support of Palestinians on Thursday, May 2, 2024, outside the J.D. Williams Library on the school campus in Oxford, Miss. (HG Biggs/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)
A demonstrator stands in front of an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the campus at the University of Southern California after police arrived with orders to disperse Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
People carry belongings out of an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators after police arrived for a raid on the campus at the University of Southern California Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
People carry belongings out of an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators after police arrived for a raid on the campus at the University of Southern California Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
A person protests in front of a police officer after police arrived on the campus at the University of Southern California to clear an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
A protestors gestures near police officers after a raid on the pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus at the University of Southern California Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Police gather on the campus at the University of Southern California prior to clearing out an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators remove belongings from an encampment after police arrived on the campus at the University of Southern California Sunday, May 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
People stand guard outside an encampment set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the campus at the University of Southern California Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Police form a line where pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
A pro-Palestinian supporter holds a sign reading "State Police=KKK" on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where they set up tents, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Police use a microphone as a pro-Palestinian demonstrator listens on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents were set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
A graduate holds his cap with an Israeli flag while shouting at pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
Rawan Antar, 21, center, chants in support of Palestinians during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
Graduates sporting Israeli flags and pins shout at Pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
Graduate Ari Belchinsky wears pro-Israel pins during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
A graduate waits for the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony to begin at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
CORRECTS PHRASE ON BANNER - A plane pulling a banner that reads "Divest From Israel Now! Free Palestine" flies overhead before the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Katy Kildee/Detroit News via AP)
A plane bearing a banner that reads ""We stand with Israel jewishlivesmatter.us" flies overhead before the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Graduates sporting Israeli flags and pins shout at Pro-Palestinian protesters as they demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators stand across from one another on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Police move pro-Palestinian demonstrators back from the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
The aftermath of a site is seen after authorities broke up a demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take videos and photos with their phones on the University of Virginia campus as police break up what authorities called an "unlawful assembly," in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024.( Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate during the University of Michigan's Spring 2024 Commencement Ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Police with riot shields form a line across from pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
A police officer, right, watches a protester wave a Palestinian flag on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Police with riot shields detain a pro-Palestinian demonstrator on the ground as a National Lawyers Guild representative holds up an emergency contact notebook, on the University of Virginia campus, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
A pro-Palestinian demonstrator wears goggles and a mask as police with riot shields and protesters stand across from one another on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
Police lift a pro-Palestinian demonstrator from the ground on the University of Virginia campus, in Charlottesville, Va., where tents are set up, Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)
