Massacre in Gaza: Protests continue at US universities despite arrests
Hah#ag Bureauub 30,2024
US universities are not remaining silent against the genocide being carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza. Protests are still continuing in many campuses. Near George Washington University, protesters tore down a camp on Monday and also tore down barriers used to secure the university yard. The yard was closed since last week.
The president of Columbia University said talks between teacher leaders and student protesters to remove the camps have made no progress since last week. This university has become the center of protests. About a week after police arrested about 50 protesters and cleared a similar camp, protesters set up a new camp with dozens of tents at Yale University.
At least one school, the University of Southern California, canceled its main graduation ceremony because of the movement. Others are calling for the protests to end peacefully so they can hold their celebrations.
About 275 people were arrested Saturday at various campuses, including Indiana University in Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St. Louis. The number of arrests nationwide has exceeded 900 since New York police dispersed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University on April 18 and arrested more than 100 protesters.
The plight of the arrested students has become a central part of the protests. A growing number of students and teachers are demanding an apology for the protesters. The issue is whether the suspension and legal record will affect the students for the rest of their lives. That means they will not face any problem in getting job etc. Because most of the companies belong to people of Israeli origin or are operated with funding from there.
How did the show begin?
On October 7, Israel retaliated by bombing Gaza, killing more people in Gaza than were killed in Israel (1200). That sequence has been going on since then. It has been more than 220 days since the massacre in Gaza. As Israel’s massacre in Gaza continues, some students launch nationwide campus protests in the US in response.
Hamas attacks on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage. Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which has vowed to oust Hamas. There are more children and women among them. What is important is that even today Israel has not been able to eliminate Hamas and 120 hostages are still in Hamas’s custody. This fact shows that Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu could not eliminate Hamas, which they had vowed to do. Initial protests at Columbia University in New York City, where protesters set up tents in the center of the campus, sparked pro-Palestine demonstrations across the country.. Due to the protests the school had to conduct online classes. Colombia set several deadlines for the protesters to leave the place, which they did not follow. University President Minouche Shafiq said in a statement Monday that students and administrators have been engaged in talks to end the conflict, but the two sides have not reached an agreement.
