Police in the United States have arrested dozens of protesters at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). Also arrested are students at the University of Southern California (USC). According to Al Jazeera report, the students are demonstrating against Israel’s war on Gaza.
However, fearing the consequence of the protest spreading across the country, the US House Speaker, Mike Johnson has threatened to call in the National Guard.
The arrests on Wednesday in cities of Austin and Los Angeles came as students at Harvard University and Brown University on the east coast also defied threats of action. They set up encampments in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The movement began at Columbia University in New York last week, with the students calling on universities to cut financial ties to Israel. They also demanded that the institution divest from companies they say are enabling its brutal war in Gaza.
According to Al Jazeera, “At least 34,262 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave since October 7.
Recall that fighters from Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking dozens of people captive on October 7, 2023.
The report stated that the student-led protests have been peaceful and largely respectful. However, the protests have been met by heavy-handed action from many universities amid allegations of anti-Semitism.
“The biggest rally on Wednesday took place at UT Austin, where hundreds of students staged a walkout. They marched to the campus’s main lawn, where they planned to set up an encampment. But the university said it would “not tolerate disruptions” and called in Local and State Police to disperse the crowds.
“Hundreds of officers arrived at the scene, some on horseback. Holding batons, they charged at the crowds and forcefully arrested several students.
“At least, 34 were taken into custody, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Greg Abbott, the Republican Governor of Texas, said the protesters “belong in jail”. He said any students joining in what he called “hate-filled, anti-Semitic protests” should be expelled.
Jeremi Suri, who is Jewish and a professor of history at UT Austin, told Al Jazeera there was “nothing anti-Semitic” about the protests.
“These students were shouting ‘free Palestine’, that’s all,” he said. “They were saying nothing that was threatening. And as they were standing and shouting, I witnessed the police – the State police, the Campus police, the City police. An army of police, almost the size as the student group. Many were carrying guns, many were carrying rifles. And then, within a few minutes, this group of police stormed into the student crowd and started arresting students.”
“At the USC campus in Los Angeles, efforts by students to set up an encampment were also met with force,” Al Jazeera report.
“Campus security scuffled with students as they took down tents. And dozens of police officers holding batons and wearing helmets later moved in to arrest the protesters as helicopters hovered overhead. The crackdown came after USC Provost Andrew Guzman sent a campus-wide email. He said the protesters had “threatened the safety of our offices and campus community”.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds, reporting from the university, however, said that “this protest against the war on Gaza was entirely peaceful”.
“We did not see any confrontations or harassment among the students,” he noted.
Reynolds said some of the students later staged a sit-in with their arms linked.
“One by one, protesting students are being handcuffed with zip ties and led away by Los Angeles police officers. Under arrest, they were taken away to a vehicle on the campus. They did not resist arrest and we did not see any violence on the part of the police,” he added.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, some 93 people were arrested in and around the USC campus.
Jody Armour, a Law Professor at the University, said officials were using claims of anti-Semitism to try and silence the protests.
“We have lots of Jewish, and Muslim, and Palestinian, and Catholic like I am, Protestants too, intergenerational, coming together. Everybody should hate anti-Semitism and fight anti-Semitism. But being opposed to Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that the UN has said may plausibly be genocide, does not mean that you’re anti-Semitic. And we need to stop allowing people to weaponize anti-Semitism against real valid protests.”
On the other side of the country, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hundreds of students at Harvard University set up their own encampment at Harvard Yard. This is despite the University closing the space and threatening “disciplinary action” against students for setting up tents without prior permission. The protesting students were calling for the institution to divest from Israel. They also, urged the institution to lift the suspension of a pro-Palestine group called the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Similar scenes played out at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
The New York Times said students there had erected some 40 tents by Wednesday afternoon. This is despite the University threatening “proceedings” against the students if they did not clear out.
At Columbia University in New York, the report maintained that there was an uneasy truce between students and officials.
New York Times had reported that the University had called in police to clear an encampment last week. This, however, led to the arrest of more than 100 students. The institution is currently in talks with the students to dismantle the protest camp. The University has also extended a deadline for dispersal by another 48 hours.
Johnson, the Republican speaker of the US House, also visited the campus to support Jewish students amid concerns of anti-Semitism. The Speaker, however, called on the Columbia President Nemat Shafik to resign.
He insisted that “if she cannot bring order to this chaos” she should resign.
Johnson, who addressed the media on the library steps near the encampment, said that “if this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard”.
He said he intended to demand US President Joe Biden “take action”. He also warned that the demonstrations “place a target on the backs of Jewish students in the United States”.
“We regret that there’s no attention on this peaceful movement. And politicians are diverting attention from the real issues,” said Mahmoud Khalil.
Khalil was a Palestinian student at Columbia who was part of the negotiations with the university’s administration about the protests. “This is academic freedom, this is freedom of speech,” he said.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, said Biden backed free speech.
“The President believes that free speech, debate and nondiscrimination on College campuses are important,” she told reporters.
source: Al Jazeera
