Police in Austin arrested 79 pro-Palestine protestors who set up an encampment at the University of Texas - a marked contrast to NYC, where Columbia protesters have been allowed to take over parts of the campus. 

Austin law enforcement moved in on the encampment on the university's South Lawn before deploying flash bangs and pepper spray to disperse those that had gathered on Monday.

On Tuesday, Travis County jail confirmed that 79 people were arrested at the protests. 

78 of those had been charged with criminal trespassing, while one person was charged with interfering with public duties. 

Officers in riot gear encircled the roughly 100 sitting protestors before they started dragging and carrying them away. 

While police in Texas quickly dealt with the protest, protests at Columbia University have continued with a building at the campus now taken over by protestors.

The protest on Monday was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state capital where more than 50 protestors were arrested last week. 

The university said in a statement that many protestors were not affiliated with the school and that encampments are prohibited on campus. 

The school also said that some demonstrators were 'physically and verbally combative' with university staff. 

At Columbia, protestors stormed and occupied Hamilton Hall on the main campus of the Manhattan university after smashing their way into the school.