Students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza being punished by US universities
Hundreds of students in the US are being arrested, suspended, put on probation and, in rare cases, expelled from their universities for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations with many still waiting to hear the full consequences of their actions, The Associated Press reports.
Last week, more than 100 faculty members at Columbia University and its Barnard College staged a “Rally to Support Our Students” condemning the arrests and demanding suspensions be lifted.
Crackdowns continued at a handful of campuses on Saturday, including a lockdown at the University of Southern California and a heavy police presence. More than 200 people were arrested at a handful of schools including 80 late on Saturday at Washington University in St. Louis.
At issue is whether universities and law enforcement will clear the students of charges, or whether the suspensions and legal records will follow them into their adult lives.
White House calls for ‘peaceful’ university protests as hundreds are arrested
The White House says pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked American universities in recent weeks must remain peaceful after police arrested 275 people on four separate campuses over the weekend.
“We certainly respect the right of peaceful protests,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s This Week programme.
The wave of demonstrations began at Columbia University in New York but have since spread rapidly across the country – even globally. While peace has prevailed in many campuses, the number of protesters detained – at times by police in riot gear using chemical irritants and tasers – is rising fast. They include 100 at Northeastern University in Boston, 80 at Washington University in St Louis, 72 at Arizona State University, and 23 at Indiana University.
Among those arrested at Washington University was Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who faulted police for aggressive tactics she said provoked the sort of trouble they are meant to quell.
Students and children in Gaza thank pro-Palestinian protesters at US college campuses
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/28/middleeast/gaza-students-thank-columbia-protests-intl-latam/index.html
Dozens of Palestinian students and children staged a display of solidarity at a demonstration in southern Gaza on Sunday to express gratitude for the support seen on US college campuses in recent weeks.
...
Takfeer Abu-Yousuf, a displaced student from Beit Hanoun in Northern Gaza, told CNN from the camp he felt it was necessary to thank the students in the US who “supported us with their humanity.”
“Those are thank you messages on our tents, those tents that don’t protect us from the heat or cold. The least we can do is thank them. We can’t write these thank you messages on the walls of our homes because we have no homes. They have been destroyed on top of our children, elders, and women,” he said.
Eighteen-year-old Rana Al-Taher pointed to the school in the camp, telling CNN that what should have been a place for learning and education has become a place for sheltering.
“That means that we have lost our education. We have lost our only hope in Gaza and we want it back. We’re here to ask for it back. It’s our right to have it back… that’s why we’re here,” she said.
....
First-year university student Bayan Al-Fiqhi told CNN she has not been able to attend her classes at her university in Cairo since the war in Gaza began and was very appreciative to students in the US for “staging their solidarity protest.”
“We hope they add pressure on Israel and the US to stop the bloodbath that is taking place in the Gaza Strip and to prevent the invasion of Rafah,” she added.
Twenty-one-year-old Nowar Diab told CNN she lamented the impact Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has had on her academic pursuits.
“I was supposed to be a graduate this year. I studied English and French literature at Al-Azhar university, but Al-Azhar university got bombarded… this war stood like a border between me and my dreams and the beginning of my career,” she said.
“Today I am standing here to tell the whole world that we, Gazan students, go through pain and we suffer every single day,” she added.
