From Australia to England: Pro-Palestinian university protests take place around the world

CNN
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Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians below Israeli The siege in Gaza has spread across university campuses in the United States and around the world in recent weeks.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested on US campuses since April 18, amid polarizing debate over the right to protest, limits on free speech and accusations of anti-Semitism.

But confrontations and confrontations with police at New York’s Columbia University, Portland State and UCLA have drawn global attention, with demonstrations and sit-ins on campuses in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Although the demands among the protesters differed from university to university, most of the demonstrations called for colleges exemption From organizations that support Israel and War in Gaza.

The current war began on October 7, when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in southern Israel. Israel’s military response has sparked a humanitarian disaster in Gaza that has sparked global opinion.

Israel’s seven-month bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Half of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are on the brink of starvation and a man-made famine is imminent A scale used by United Nations agencies. Concerns have grown over an expected Israeli military operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah, prompting renewed calls for a ceasefire.

Here’s a look at some of the pro-Palestinian compound protests around the world.

Pro-Palestinian protest camps have been taking place for the past few weeks Appeared in at least seven universities Australia wide.

The University of Queensland in Brisbane has become a gathering place for rival camps within 100 meters (328 feet) of each other – one filled with student supporters for Palestine UQ, the other smaller tents with Israeli flags. Between the trees.

They were staged in solidarity with Palestinians under the Israeli blockade of Gaza and student protesters in the US, but some Jewish groups say they are causing unnecessary tension on campus and Australia’s opposition leader has called them “racist” and “hostile”.

Students for Palestine UQ require the university to disclose all connections with Israeli institutions and universities and to sever ties with arms agencies.

So far, the violence that erupted at universities across the US has not been repeated in Australia.

At the University of Sydney, there are about 50 tents in the quadrangle where up to 100 protesters sleep each night. On May 3, Jewish groups protested against what they called a “disturbing trend of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity” at the university.

More than 200 people, some wearing Israeli and Australian flags, gathered at the Sydney compound, but there was no direct meeting between them and the pro-Palestinian group, who urged followers to help “protect” their camp.

Pro-Palestinian protests have been held at universities across the UK since the early days of Israel’s war in Gaza. camps in recent days.

At Newcastle University, a small pro-Palestinian encampment has been set up on the lawn in front of the college’s buildings, with video and images showing on social media.

The X account “Newcastle apartheid off campus” shared pictures of their camp, showing about a dozen tents on the grass, some decorated with Palestinian flags.

The group describes itself as “a student-led coalition fighting to end Newcastle University’s partnership with security agencies that supply Israel”.

Students from the English cities of Leeds, Bristol and Warwick have also set up tents outside their university buildings to protest the war in Gaza, according to the PA news agency.

Campus protests in Britain have drawn criticism from some Jewish student groups amid calls for universities to take their duty of care to Jewish students more seriously.

In Paris, pro-Palestinian protests erupted at the Sciences Po University and Sorbonne University in late April.

French police removed protesters from the Sorbonne, one of the country’s most prestigious universities – video posted by CNN shows officers dragging two demonstrators out of tents and onto the floor.

At Sciences Po, a protester said a student had started a hunger strike to protest the university’s response to “students who want to support Palestine.”

CNN video showed students holding banners calling for an end to the “genocide” in Gaza and boycotting Israeli universities.

Sciences Po is one of France’s highest-ranked universities and the alma mater of several presidents, including current president Emmanuel Macron. It has strong ties to Columbia University, where students have staged widespread pro-Palestinian protests.

“We were inspired by Columbia, Harvard, Yale, UNC, Vanderbilt,” Lewis, a science Poe student, told CNN. “All these universities have mobilized, but our solidarity is first and foremost with the Palestinian people.”

Amid protests, the head of the Ile-de-France region said the university would no longer receive funding from the Paris regional authority until “peace and security are restored to the school”.

Samuel Lejoieux, president of France’s Jewish Student Union, called for more dialogue between protesters on both sides of the ideological divide.

In an op-ed in Le Monde newspaper on Thursday, pro-Palestinian protesters said more must be done to “clearly condemn anti-Semitism” but that sending in the police was not the answer.

“I will never be happy to see CRS [riot police] Entering a campus,” he wrote. “Above all, I believe in dialogue. “Great social developments in France have always been the result of militancy and debate,” he added.

Protests were held at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi to protest against the students protesting at Columbia.

The protests were postponed as US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti was expected to visit the campus.

“The JNU campus will not provide a platform for administrations and personnel representing countries that are complicit in terrorism and genocide perpetrated by Israel,” the JNU Students’ Union said in a statement on April 29. The union has expressed solidarity with the protesters in Colombia.

JNU, ​​one of India’s top universities, has been at the forefront of several protest movements, including the 2019 protests against a controversial law that critics say discriminates against Muslims.

Two student political parties expressed solidarity with pro-Palestinian protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.

“We also condemn the stance taken by our BJP (Bharatiya Janata)-led government in supporting Israel, which deviates from India’s historic position,” the Communist Party of India-affiliated Students’ Federation of India said in a statement.

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza have turned campuses across Canada upside down.

At McGill University in downtown Montreal, pro-Palestinian student protesters set up a camp on the front lawn.

Like their counterparts in the United States, the students are demanding that the college divest from institutions with ties to Israel.

After talks with student representatives failed to resolve the issue, the university sought police assistance to disperse the protesters.

On May 2, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected a request for an injunction that would have forced pro-Palestinian protesters to leave their camp.

According to public broadcaster CBC News, pro-Palestinian protesters have set up encampments on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Hundreds of students gathered on campuses in Lebanon in late April, waving Palestinian flags and demanding their universities boycott companies doing business in Israel, Reuters reported. reported.

In the capital, images show students at the American University of Beirut protesting outside the gates against the war in Gaza.

Some protesters said they were inspired by protests on American campuses.

“We want to show the whole world that we have not forgotten the Palestinian cause and that the young generation, who are aware and cultured, are still with the Palestinian cause,” 19-year-old Ali al-Muslim told Reuters.