After weeks of demonstrations and police crackdowns on university campuses across the country, more than 2,300 arrests have already been made.
The majority of protesters are demanding that their universities sever ties with companies linked to Israel.
Israel classifies the protests as anti-Semitic, while critics of Israel say that the United States uses these allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or violent threats, the organizers of the protests consider the movement peaceful, aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting against the war.
President Joe Biden defended freedom of expression and the right of students to protest peacefully but condemned violence and disruption of campus life.
School presidents denounce that infiltrators in the camps are people who are not students of their institutions and are there to cause confusion.
The student protest movement, not seen in a long time in the U.S., began on April 17 at Columbia University in New York, where protesting students built a camp to call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, which began after October 7, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took around 250 hostages in an attack in southern Israel.
Global Advance: Pro-Palestine Protests Are Not Only on American University Campuses
Clashes between students and police are reported across the United States during an intensification of protests on university campuses.
What started as a solidarity camp for Gaza at Columbia University in New York, where students are now pressuring their institution to sever ties with companies linked to Israel, has spread to campuses in California, Texas, and several other states.
But the protests are not limited to the U.S., as students around the world have been demonstrating since the war began on October 7.
Which universities are holding pro-Palestine protests?
In Paris, France, students from Sorbonne University took to the streets. In Australia, students from the University of Sydney set up pro-Palestine camps. Additionally, students from the University of Melbourne pitched tents on the south lawn of their main campus. In Italy, Rome, students from Sapienza University organized demonstrations, protests, and hunger strikes on April 17 and 18. Since the evening of April 19, students from the Warwick Stands With Palestine group at the University of Warwick have occupied the campus square located in England, UK. In Leicester, England, a protest erupted on Monday, which also involved students from the Palestinian Society at the University of Leicester. Last month, students from the University of Leeds occupied a campus in protest.
What are the demands of student protesters outside the U.S.?
Some want to investigate the ties their universities have with Israel, while others demand more support from their governments for Palestine.
Is there police repression against pro-Palestine protesters outside the U.S.?
Yes. Police have interrupted demonstrations and dismantled camps, just as has been happening in the U.S.
Source: AP and Al-Jazeera