Police arrest pro-Palestine demonstrators in Amsterdam
Police arrested several pro-Palestinian protesters in Amsterdam in the Netherlands as tensions erupted around events in the city to mark the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack.
Riot officers carrying shields and batons deployed in force in the Dutch capital as people gathered in the central Dam Square to mourn those killed one year ago. While the pro-Israeli group was listening to speeches and concerts, counter-demonstrators began to shout slogans. Police grabbed one middle-aged woman and hauled her into an armoured van, AFP news agency reported.
Nearby, police surrounded several dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators with faces covered and flags waving, to keep them separated from the Israeli gathering.
Police warned them to disperse but later announced they had arrested the group “for breaking the law on public gatherings”.
Police seize a protester during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack
Large pro-Palestine demonstration held in Amman
People in Amman hold up their phones with flashlights on as they attend a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza
Columbia University protesters mark one year since Israel’s war on Gaza began
Pro-Palestine demonstrators have marched on campus at Columbia University in New York City, chanting “Free, free Palestine” on the one-year anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Just outside the US university’s campus, pro-Israel protesters also gathered, holding placards with captives’ faces and names and saying “Bring them home now”.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which has claimed the lives of close to 42,000 Palestinians, has unleashed the biggest outpouring of US student activism since the anti-racism protests of 2020.
Protests against the Gaza war began on Columbia’s campus in April, inspiring similar encampments at other institutions across the United States and beyond.
Minouche Shafik, the then-president of Columbia University, resigned after she allowed New York City police onto the campus to clear the protests, triggering outrage from protesters and some academics and calls for her ouster.
Now, as those student protesters return for a new year of learning, they are facing a landscape transformed by updated restrictions, heightened security measures and increased scrutiny of pro-Palestine movements.
