According to NBC News, protests are currently underway at at least 20 universities. In Texas, police clashed with protesters as a force of more than 100 tried to quell the protests – some using batons and horses. One of those arrested was a photographer for the American channel Fox News, writes The Guardian.
“These protesters belong in prison. Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period,” the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, signs https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1783237229252346194.
The protests against the Gaza war, which were mainly peaceful, have been criticized for containing anti-Semitic elements, AP writes. Among other things, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that “anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities” and called the demonstrations “shameful”. At the same time, several Jewish students themselves have participated in the protests, writes The Independent.
The demonstrations gained momentum at Columbia University in New York after the school’s chancellor said the university would take action against students chanting “from the river to the sea” on campus, a phrase interpreted by some as the erasure of Israel entirely. They have since spread to other universities and come to be about US and university support for Israel’s warfare in Gaza, where over 30,000 civilians have been killed. The students demand, among other things, that the schools distance themselves from the war and from companies that contribute to supporting Israel.
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Photo: Sandra Dahdah/TT
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Photo: Melissa Bender/TT
When Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson visited Colombia University yesterday, he urged the rector to resign if she cannot curb the protests, writes The Independent.
During the Wednesday evening seized police over 100 protesters at Emerson College in Boston, and earlier that day 93 people were arrested at a university in Los Angeles, the BBC reports. Dozens of others were arrested in several different parts of the country.
President Joe Biden has said the administration is aware of the protests and is monitoring the situation. He says that he condemns “anti-Semitic protests”, as well as “those who do not understand what is happening to the Palestinians”, AP writes.
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Tags: Police protesters clash Texas
