Gaza
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Hundreds of police officers in riot gear dismantled a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California at Los Angeles early on Thursday after it was attacked the previous night by pro-Israel supporters.
Officers muscled their way into a central plaza of the university on Wednesday evening before forcing their way into the anti-war encampment at around 3:15am, tearing down barricades and arresting occupants who refused to leave.
Live TV footage showed about six protesters under arrest, kneeling on the ground, their hands bound behind their backs with zip-ties as dozens of loud explosions were heard during the clash from flash-bang charges, or stun grenades, fired by police.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the previous night’s attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, arresting over 300 protesters.
Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire made arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday
WATCH: Displaced people in Gaza praise pro-Palestinian campus protests in US
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza have expressed their gratitude for pro-Palestinian campus protests in the US, the Associated Press reports.
The ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, many of them women and children, and aid blockages have resulted in a famine in northern Gaza. The attacks come after 7 October, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage.
Katie Hawkinson2 May 2024 13:00
Dozens of protesters arrested as NYPD storm Columbia campus to crush pro-Gaza protest
Alexander Butler2 May 2024 11:30
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemns campus crackdowns
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, told The Independent’s Eric Garcia she is concerned about setting a dangerous precedent regarding the use of force against protesters.
“We are concerned about setting a very dangerous precedent of introducing violent forms of enforcement on those demonstrations that, on the whole, are truly peaceful,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said on Wednesday.
Katie Hawkinson2 May 2024 11:00
How Columbia University became the driving force behind protests over the war in Gaza
Alexander Butler2 May 2024 10:45
Graduating seniors blame USC for ruining end of college with ‘military’ crackdown
Alexander Butler2 May 2024 10:30
Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel supporters chant ‘F*** Joe Biden’
Alexander Butler2 May 2024 10:15
UN human rights chief ‘troubled’ by treatment of Gaza protesters at US universities
UN human rights chief ‘troubled’ by treatment of Gaza protesters at US universities
The UN human rights office said on Tuesday (30 April) it was “troubled” by heavy-handed actions taken by US security forces during attempts to break up Gaza protests on college campuses. Demonstrations at universities across the country showed no sign of slowing as they spread coast-to-coast over the weekend and police crackdowns and arrests continued into another week. Students have vowed to stay in tent encampments until their demands are met. Their demands range from a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas to calls for universities to stop investing in Israeli enterprises involved with the country’s military. Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the UN is “troubled by a series of heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle protests”.
Alexander Butler2 May 2024 10:00
Bernie Sanders says media shouldn’t lose focus of underlying Israel-Hamas war
Stories about campus unrest have captured the attention of newsrooms across the US, but US Senator Bernie Sanders called on media members not to stop covering the underlying Israel-Hamas war, or inquiring about the overwhelmingly Palestinian civilian death toll.
“I suggest to CNN and maybe some of my colleagues here, maybe take your cameras, just for a moment, off of Columbia and UCLA ,” the Vermont senator said in a floor speech. “Maybe go to Gaza, and take your camera show us the emaciated children who are dying from malnutrition because of Netanyahu’s policies.”
Josh Marcus2 May 2024 09:45
Students occupy UK University campuses in protest against Gaza war
Pro-Palestinian students have gathered in protest at universities across the UK following violent demonstrations at campuses in the US.
Students in Leeds, Newcastle and Bristol set up tents outside university buildings on Wednesday in protest against the war in Gaza.
Bristol students said they staged the action “in protest of the university’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians”, while Apartheid Off Campus Newcastle said its demonstration was to “highlight the institution’s investment strategy and its complicity in the Israeli military’s war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank”.
Namita Singh2 May 2024 09:28
Police arrests 15 protesters at Fordham
Police arrested 15 protesters at Fordham University in New York. as they cleared encampment by the demonstrators
The police action comes as nearly 300 people were arrested at City College and Columbia University on Tuesday.
Namita Singh2 May 2024 09:26
