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An NYPD
officer
stands
guard as
demonstrators
gather
outside
of
Columbia
University
to
demand a
ceasefire
and the
end of
Israeli
attacks
on Gaza,
during
the
ongoing
conflict
between
Israel
and the
Palestinian
Islamist
group
Hamas,
during a
protest
in New
York,
April
20.
REUTERS/Adam
Gray |
| |
Protests
intensify
at US
universities
as
demonstrators
grow in
numbers
and
voice
By
Wendell
Bryant
tellususa.com
Protests
against
Israel
have
been
taking
place in
various
parts of
the
United
States,
including
at
universities
where
Jewish
Passover
Seders
are
held.
The
demonstrations
aim to
end
civilian
casualties
in Gaza.
In
recent
days,
there
have
been
mass
arrests
of
demonstrators
at some
East
Coast
universities.
The
growing
protests
indicate
a
deepening
dissatisfaction
in the
United
States,
historically
Israel's
most
important
ally,
with the
course
of the
war with
Hamas.
The
protests
have
drawn
students
and
faculty
of
various
backgrounds,
including
of
Jewish
and
Muslim
faiths,
who host
teach-ins,
interfaith
prayers,
and
musical
performances.
The
Council
on
American-Islamic
Relations
criticized
the use
of
police
force to
stifle
dissent,
saying
it
undermined
academic
freedom.
Critics
of the
protests,
including
prominent
Republican
members
of the
U.S.
Congress,
have
stepped
up
accusations
of
anti-Semitism
and
harassment
by some
protesters.
Civil
rights
advocates,
including
the
ACLU,
have
raised
free
speech
concerns
over the
arrests.
There
have
been
heated
exchanges
of words
and
insults
between
pro-Palestinian
and
pro-Israeli
demonstrators,
particularly
in the
public
streets
around
Columbia.
Congressional
Republicans
have
demanded
that
President
Joe
Biden do
more to
protect
Jewish
students.
Several
campus
protesters
Reuters
spoke to
attributed
the
off-campus
incidents
to rogue
provocateurs
who are
trying
to
hijack
the
protests'
message.
Other
students
blamed
universities
for
failing
to
protect
their
right to
protest
or stand
up for
human
rights.
Students
at the
University
of
California,
Berkeley,
have set
up tents
in
solidarity
with
protesters
at other
schools.
New York
police
arrested
over 120
protesters
at New
York
University
on
Monday
and over
100 at
Columbia
University
last
week.
Columbia
canceled
in-person
classes
at its
Upper
Manhattan
campus
on
Monday
in a bid
to
defuse
tensions.
Later,
the
university's
president
said it
was time
“to move
forward
with a
plan to
dismantle”
the
pro-Palestine
encampment
and gave
organizers
a
midnight
deadline
to do
so.
California's
Cal Poly
Humboldt,
a public
university
in
Arcata,
was shut
down
after
pro-Palestinian
protesters
occupied
a campus
building.
At the
University
of
Minnesota
campus
in St.
Paul,
police
cleared
an
encampment
after
the
school
asked
them to
take
action,
citing
violations
of
university
policy
and
trespassing
law.
Some
Jewish
demonstrators
said
they
were
taking
the
second
night of
the
weeklong
feast of
Passover,
a
holiday
feast
when
families
gather
and
celebrate
the
biblical
account
of the
Israelites'
freedom
from
Egyptian
slavery.
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