Protests over war in Gaza increase on US campuses

Students demonstrating against the war between Israel and Hamas woke up in tents on college campuses across the United States Sunday morning, planning more protests to demand that schools cut financial ties with Israel and divest from accused companies. to enable conflict.

Many universities were calm Sunday afternoon, but about 275 people were arrested Saturday at schools including Indiana University in Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St. Louis. The number of arrests across the United States now stands at 900, since New York City police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 protesters on April 18.

The decisions to resort to security forces, which have led to hundreds of arrests across the country, have led to negative reactions from protesters. The tensions have increased pressure on university officials, who are trying to resolve protests as graduation events approach in May.

Faculty at universities in California, Georgia and Texas initiated or approved motions of no confidence in their leaders. They are mostly symbolic rejections, without the power to remove the presidents of the institutions.

White House Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that President Joe Biden “knows there are very intense feelings” but that he will leave the management of the protests to local authorities.

“People should have the ability to express their views and share their perspectives publicly, but it should be peacefully,” Kirby said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, described what happened as “a dangerous situation” and blamed the university authorities.

“There is also anti-Semitism, which is totally unacceptable. “I’m amazed to see that in this country,” McConnell said in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

HOW IT GOT STARTED

At Columbia University in New York City, where the first protests sparked pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, students and administrators have engaged in negotiations, the university said in a statement Saturday night.

“The dialogue between university representatives and student organizers continues. “We want to be clear: claims of an imminent campus closure or evictions are not true,” the Columbia administration statement said.

Although the university set and then postponed several deadlines to vacate the camp, the center sent an email to students indicating that resorting to the police again “at this time” would be counterproductive.

MISSOURI

Washington University in St. Louis closed some campus buildings and detained protesters on Saturday.

The Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper in St. Louis, reported that more than 80 people were arrested during a protest that began in public spaces before moving to campus in the afternoon. Megan Green, president of the San Luis board in Aldermen, said on social media that she was present and that the protest had been calm “until the police arrived as if in an ambush.”

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stain said on social media that she and her two campaign managers were among those detained on the University of Washington campus.

The St. Louis Police Department said in a social media post that it assisted campus police, although city officers did not make any arrests.

CALIFORNIA

The University of Southern California (USC) announced on Saturday that it had temporarily closed its University Park Campus to non-residents, without providing further details about the closure or measures to implement it.

Joel Curran, vice president of communications, reported in a statement acts of vandalism against USC property by members of a group “that has continued to camp illegally on our campuses,” who had also interfered with the operation of the center and harassed students and others. people.

Students rebuffed numerous attempts by university President Carol Folt to meet, and the administration hoped to get “a more reasonable response on Sunday before we are forced to take further action,” Curran said.

USC came under fire after refusing to allow the student representative speaker, who has publicly supported the Palestinians, to give a keynote speech at the events. Then the administration canceled filmmaker Jon M. Chu’s speech. The university announced Thursday the cancellation of its main graduation ceremony, a day after more than 90 protesters were detained by riot police.

Folt, the university president, made her first public remarks Friday morning, saying the controversy was “incredibly difficult for all of us.”

“No one wants to have detentions in their fields. Never. But when established safety policies are blatantly flouted, buildings vandalized, Department of Public Health orders repeatedly ignored, threatening language used, people assaulted, and access to academic buildings blocked, we must act accordingly. immediately to protect our community,” Folt explained.

MASSACHUSETTS

In Boston, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University on Saturday.

Massachusetts State Police reported that around 102 protesters were arrested and will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

The school said in a statement that the demonstration, which began two days ago, had been “infiltrated by professional organizers” with no affiliation to the school and that anti-Semitic insults, such as “kill the Jews,” had been hurled.

“We cannot tolerate this type of hate on our campus,” read the statement published on the social network X.

The student group Huskies for a Free Palestine refuted the university’s version, stating in a statement that counterprotesters were responsible for the insults and that no students at the protest “repeated the disgusting hate speech.”

Students who participated in the protest claimed that a counter-protester attempted to instigate hate speech, but insisted that their demonstration was peaceful and, like many others across the country, their goal was to draw attention to what they called “genocide.” ” in Gaza and about his university’s complicity in the war.

The president of nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said in a statement Saturday that the camp had become a “potential magnet for outside disruptors” and that keeping it safe was taking hundreds of staff hours.

INDIANA

Indiana University Campus Police and State Police officers arrested 23 people Saturday at an encampment on the school’s campus in Bloomington.

Tents and canopies were erected Friday, a violation of school policy, and members of the group were arrested after refusing to remove the structures on charges ranging from trespassing to resisting law enforcement, police said. .

Arizona State University said 69 people were arrested early Saturday on suspicion of trespassing for setting up an unauthorized camp on a grassy area of ​​its Tempe campus. Protesters were given the opportunity to leave and those who refused were arrested.

UNIVERSITY CAMPUS AND THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Protests on university campuses in different parts of the United States began in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Hamas launched a deadly attack in southern Israel on October 7, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Vowing to end Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza. During the subsequent war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Health Ministry.

Israel and its supporters have called the university protests anti-Semitic, but critics say Israel uses such accusations to silence its opponents. Although some protesters have been recorded making anti-Semitic comments or uttering violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.