On the 24th, a wave of protests broke out in many universities across the United States against the US government's aid to Israel.
USC students protest the university's donation of tuition fees in support of Israel
On the 24th, more than 100 USC students and off-campus supporters erected tents, banners, and signs in the center of the campus. The initial calm of the protests was shattered by the presence of law enforcement officers at the university, who demanded the confiscation of tents on the grounds that students had violated the university's no-camping policy. In the end, the students fled with their tents, and the encirclement and suppression of the tents were unsuccessful.
According to the Los Angeles Times, there were at least two LAPD SWAT officers at the scene. During one standoff, law enforcement officers surrounded and seized a protester, who was detained in a white car, followed by the protester demanding the release of the students. Protesters gathered on both sides of the vehicle, and about 30 minutes later, the police released the protesters, and the fighting continued.
According to Phoenix TV reporter Yang Pingjun, at least two Los Angeles Police Department helicopters hovered in the air that day, monitoring the students' every move at all times.
The school closed its campus around 1:45 p.m. that day. Several student groups have called for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Kazakhstan and for USC to sever ties with arms manufacturers linked to Israel.
USC Students:
USC invests endowment funds and student money in private companies that we don't know about. Through our research, we know that school donations were used to fund genocide, to fund oppression, and especially to fund apartheid in Israel.
USC Faculty:
Raise our voices against the kind of investment that allows Israel to continue to fund its wars, and send a message to our parliamentarians that it is unacceptable, whether at the local, state, or national level.
At present, there is an outbreak of solidarity with Palestine on the campuses of many universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Texas at Austin, and California State University. Many university alumni and teachers have also joined the protests, and some even held up rag dolls to remind people that babies are dying in Gaza every day.
USC Faculty:
As faculty members, we feel a special responsibility because every university in Gaza has been destroyed by the Israelis. At least nearly 40,000 people have been killed, more than 1,000 injured and others are missing.
Students at the University of Southern California who stood in solidarity with Burroughs said that they would not cancel the tent area despite repeated sieges, and they mentioned that they were outraged that President Biden had signed a package of bills, including one in support of Israel.
Columbia University's opposition to the U.S. government's aid to protest continues
On the 24th, Columbia University announced that it would hold 48-hour negotiations with the protesting student groups, and the university demanded that the students remove all demonstration tents on the campus lawn, restore order on the campus, and stop attacks on Israeli Jewish students. The protesting students demanded that the U.S. government stop funding Israel, that the university no longer accept funding from Israeli companies, and that the university no longer allow police arrests of protesting students.
On the afternoon of the 24th, Columbia University issued a statement saying that the student protesters had promised to remove some of the tents, and the student protest group also said that the university would issue a written commitment that it would not allow the New York police or the National Guard to enter and arrest students. While the negotiations were ongoing, the New York police continued to lock down the campus.
According to the observation of Phoenix Satellite TV reporter Chen Yingqian, Columbia University was completely blocked by the New York police on that day, and the scene was all arranged with iron fences and cordons, and there were also many armed police officers to maintain stability, and all the gates of Columbia University were locked with metal locks.
Although the two sides reached a partial agreement, reporters saw dozens of tents and more than 100 students still holding a sit-in protest on the lawn of Columbia's campus. Columbia students told reporters that the student protests were generally peaceful.
Outside the campus, many people from all over New York came to support the student protests, telling reporters that many of Columbia's largest donors and campus trustees are Jewish, so they are also pressuring the university to end the protests as soon as possible and protect Jewish students.
Protesters outside Columbia University:
Under Biden, the U.S. Secretary of State is Jewish, the Secretary of Homeland Security is Jewish, the Secretary of the Treasury is Jewish, the Attorney General is Jewish, and in the United States Jews control everything, how do they control it? Through money, they control the entire Western world, and the only countries they can't control are Russia and China.
Some residents at the scene told reporters that since the protests of the Columbia student group, there have been frequent incidents of verbal harassment or violence against Jewish students and residents inside and outside the campus, which has made the community atmosphere very tense.
Columbia University Community Residents:
They were attacked, they were pushed away, they were to walk outside completely masked. It's okay to protest, but why exercise violence, why is every Jew at Columbia being targeted, it's an anti-Semitism among classmates.
The University of Texas marched in solidarity with Pakistanis, and student police clashed
Students at the University of Texas at Austin also launched a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine on the 24th.
Hundreds of university students gathered on the campus to march in a procession, waving Palestinian flags and ceasefire slogans and shouting slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine and an end to aid Israel. Police set up a barrier in the middle of the road to stop the procession, and demonstrators protested by forming a wall in front of the barrier.
Dozens of other police officers wearing riot gear rode to the scene to stop them. At one point, the demonstrators clashed with the police, and several people were reportedly arrested.
Texas Gov. Abbott expressed support for the police arrest and said students involved in the protests should be expelled.
Source: Phoenix Satellite TV Information Channel
Editor: Mu Mu