Over 100 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested Thursday from the campus of New York’s Columbia University over demanding that Columbia divest from corporations with ties to ‘Israel’ in New York.
The students were arrested while in scenes reminiscent of police crackdowns on students protesting the Vietnam War.
The break up of the pro-Palestinian encampment was demanded by Columbia University itself and resulted in 108 arrests, according to Mayor Eric Adams.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik authorized the arrest of dozens of protesters just a day after she testified at Congress hearing, “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Anti-semitism.”
Numerous numbers of students involved with the protest have been suspended and threatened with eviction from their graduate student housing for being active in pro-Palestinian events.
Among the students who have been suspended was Isra Hirsi, the daughter of the Minnesota congresswoman.
Hirsi said on X that she was “one of three students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.” She went on to say that despite being an organiser with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, she had never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings in her three years at the college.
On Wednesday morning, April 17, over 100 students protested outside Butler Library at the Columbia University campus in New York City chanting for Gaza and showing their ultimate support.
Columbia students pitched dozens of tents on the lawn in front of the library starting at 4am, demanding complete university divestment from companies & institutions that profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the ongoing war on Gaza.
Catherine Elias, a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs, said they have created the encampment in honor of the martyrs in Gaza, following in the footsteps of all those before them and building on over 60 years of anti-apartheid struggles around the world.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=53308
