Student protesters around the world condemn Israel’s war on Gaza
Student protesters around the world have gathered in opposition of Israel’s military assault on Gaza since April 17th. According to US media, nearly 2,000 people have been detained as a result, the Arab Weekly and agencies reported.
Police forcibly dismantled several student sit-ins at New York University at the request of its administrators. Additionally, demonstrators barricaded inside Columbia University reported police brutality when officers cleared the faculty.
Similarly, at the University of California, Los Angeles, hundreds of police emptied a camp by tearing down barriers and detaining over 200 protesters.
Rhode Island’s Brown University agreed to consider divesting from “companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza” in exchange for students removing their camp from campus grounds.
Many Americans have expressed outrage over President Joe Biden’s silence on the matter. On May 2nd, he insisted, simply, “order must prevail.”
Student protests have also reached a global scale.
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On May 3rd, police forcibly evacuated protesters from a pro-Gaza sit-in at Sciences Po in Paris. According to officials, 91 people were arrested. The University’s interim administrator Jean Basseres rejected student demands to examine the institution’s links with Israeli universities.
Students at the nearby Sorbonne University, the Union of Jewish Students in France set up a “dialogue table” on Friday.
“Jewish students have their place in this dialogue,” said invited guest speaker and comic-book artist Joann Sfar. He added that he understood why students were “outraged by what’s going on in the Middle East.”
At Paris-Dauphine University, administrators banned a conference with Franco-Palestinian lawyer and activist Rima Hassan, who has been vocal in her condemnation of Gaza’s “genocide.” The ban has since been overturned by judicial authorities fearing public disorder.
On May 4th, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the university blockades, saying that doing so “prevented debate.”
Police also intervened on May 3rd to evacuate protesters outside Humboldt University in central Berlin. Demonstrators were “forcibly” removed after refusing to decamp to another location, said police.
Berlin mayor Kai Wegner criticised the protest on X, saying that the city did not want to see these events resemble those in the United States and France.
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Students have also protested in several Canadian cities, such as Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
Hundreds of demonstrators joined the first and largest camp at Montreal’s McGill, vowing to remain there until the university cuts all financial and academic ties with Israel. On May 1st, McGill’s administrators said they wanted the camp removed on the grounds that certain protesters were not members of the student body.
In Australia, rival supporters of Gaza and Israel faced off at Sydney University on May 3rd. Though except for a few heated exchanges, the protest passed off peacefully. Pro-ceasefire demonstrators have continuously camped in front of the university, encouraging the institution to cut ties with Israeli institutions and reject funding from arms companies.
Students at Trinity College Dublin began a sit-in on May 3rd, describing the demonstration as “solidarity encampment with Palestine.”
At Mexico’s largest university, UNAM, students set up a camp in Mexico City on May 2nd, protesting the Mexican government’s ties to Israel.
About 100 students have occupied the entrance of a building at Switzerland’s Lausanne University since May 2nd, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The peaceful sit-in was due to continue until May 6th.
The Arab Weekly and agencies
