‘Divest from Israel’: Decoding the Gaza protest call shaking US campuses
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/30/divest-from-israel-breaking-down-the-us-student-protesters-demands
Pro-Palestine demonstrations are spreading across campuses in the US and internationally as students call on their universities to “disclose and divest” their investments in companies and organisations linked to Israel and its war on Gaza.
So what exactly is “divestment” and how do the students want their universities to divest?
Sixteen pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at University of New Mexico
Sixteen people have been arrested at the University of New Mexico in the US as police forcefully ejected pro-Palestine protesters occupying the school’s Student Union building.
Five of those arrested are students at the University of New Mexico, while 11 people not affiliated with the school have also been detained, a university spokesperson said.
The demonstrators, who occupied the Student Union after a rally on Monday night, have been charged with criminal trespass and wrongful use of public property.
Footage of the arrests shows police violently throwing protesters to the ground before tying their hands behind their back.
Columbia University says it invited police onto campus
A spokesperson for Columbia University says that the New York Police Department entered the campus at the “university’s request”.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson also added that the university believed the leaders of the group that occupied Hamilton hall were “not affiliated with the university”.
Columbia faculty say university president, staff ‘responsible’ as police enter campus
Faculty members at Columbia University said they hold the “university leadership responsible for disastrous lapses of judgement” as New York police massed outside the campus in preparation for a raid on students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza.
In a statement issued around an hour before police entered the campus in overwhelming force, faculty members said the presence of armed officers “places students and everyone else on campus at risk”.
“We hold University leadership responsible for the disastrous lapses of judgment that have gotten us to this point,” the faculty statement said.
“The University President, her senior staff, and the Board of Trustees will bear responsibility for any injuries that may occur during any police action on our campus.”
‘This cannot happen in my name’, says Jewish American student
Sam Law, a Jewish American graduate student who took part in a protest at the University of Texas in Austin, recounted his arrest on Tuesday to Al Jazeera.
“I went to hear about the faculty talking about the destruction of universities in Gaza, and at around 12:45pm, a group of students started setting up tents and so I ran there and linked arms with people to defend the tents.
“We saw last Wednesday, the president of our university sending in militarised police – people with guns, riot gear and horses – and so when I ran to the tents, I knew that’s what’s going to happen. As a Jewish American… I needed to be strong and say this cannot happen in my name.
“We were encircled; it took the police several hours to pull people away, one by one, but there was a strong sense of solidarity, resolve among the students and community members. I wasn’t the only Jew; there were other people wearing Kippas.
“There were some people who were pretty badly injured. I saw people who really couldn’t walk because they had injured their ankle, someone covered in blood, people having asthma attacks, people having diabetic crises, people with tears running down their faces with medics putting saline solution in their eyes to help wash it [pepper spray] out.”
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