Pro-Palestine Demonstrations Expand to More US Universities

Washington: On US college campuses on Wednesday, students staging more hostile pro-Palestinian protests in protest of the number of Israeli and Palestinian deaths erupted, leading to heated altercations with police in Texas and California.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said that if the protests were not immediately put to an end at Columbia University in New York, the focal point of the growing rallies, it would be “an appropriate time for the National Guard.”

To make such a threat on a US college was inflammatory. The National Guard opened fire on a gathering protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970, killing four unarmed students and injuring nine more. This incident has previously been brought up by Columbia students.

Since the start of the demonstrations at Columbia last week, hundreds of students have been detained as a result of police confrontations with them.

Johnson addressed the media from the lawn where last week’s protest encampment by Columbia students was first established.

He said that he would ask US President Joe Biden to “take action,” adding that the protests “place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States.”

As the kids jeered, he said, “Enjoy your free speech.”

Biden supported free speech on US colleges, according to his spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre earlier.

“The president believes that free speech, debate and nondiscrimination on college campuses are important,” she said to reporters.

After an extraordinary Hamas onslaught on October 7 that claimed almost 1,170 lives, US ally Israel started the war in Gaza, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official data.

The demonstrators on campus said they are calling on Columbia and other institutions to withdraw from corporations with links to Israel and showing support for Palestinians in Gaza, where the dead toll has exceeded 34,200 so far, according to the health ministry administered by Hamas.

The protesters, some of whom are Jewish students, claim to have repudiated any anti-Semitic sentiment.

On the other hand, pro-Israel advocates and others concerned about school safety have cited instances of anti-Semitism and said that educational institutions are promoting intimidation and hate speech.

On social media, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also voiced his opinion, stating that the demonstrations are “not only anti-Semitic, but also inciting terrorism.”

“Down with the occupation”

Johnson arrived in Columbia at the same time as hundreds of demonstrators at the University of Texas in Austin staged a raucous walkout while yelling “down with occupation.” Texas then sent state troopers and police in riot gear to the scene.

According to the Texas Tribune, at least 17 persons were in custody.

At least 100 students started what they dubbed an occupation on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles, prompting police to be summoned as well. The media reported that the movement was mostly nonviolent.

There have also been demonstrations by students at a number of other universities, such as Yale, MIT, UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and Brown.

Images shared on social media revealed an encampment developing at Harvard University, which is close to Boston.

At California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, demonstrators blocked a school building, forcing classes to be transferred online and other on-campus events to be canceled.

At a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Monday night at New York University, more than 130 individuals were taken into custody.

Additionally, nine persons are allegedly detained by University of Minnesota police during a pro-Palestinian campsite.

According to NBC, in light of the current protest wave, the FBI is working with colleges to address potential violence and anti-Semitic threats.

– Deadline for Columbia extended

A deadline to forcefully evict the students’ protest encampment expired, and an apprehensive ceasefire was in effect before Johnson’s arrival to Columbia.

When university president Minouche Shafik summoned the police, over 100 individuals were taken into custody, marking the height of tensions at the institution last week.

Officials at the university had given themselves until midnight on Tuesday to put a stop to the disturbances, but when more individuals joined the demonstration throughout the night, the deadline was extended by 48 hours on Wednesday, according to what students posted on social media.

Organizers from Columbia University Apartheid Divest claimed that they only consented to the continued negotiations because the school had committed not to summon the police or National Guard, describing the concession as a “important victory.”

In the social media post, the students expressed their worry that Columbia may potentially see another Jackson State or Kent State tragedy.

In 1970, police in Jackson, Mississippi, confronted student demonstrators eleven days after the Kent State killings. They opened fire, killing two and injured twelve.