Columbia University in New York has canceled its graduation ceremony scheduled for May 13 and has instead held graduation ceremonies in batches by individual colleges. Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel students held up Palestinian flags and waved banners demanding that Columbia withdraw from Israel, while others tied their hands and tore up their diplomas in protest at an earlier graduation ceremony.
Following Columbia University's cancellation of the university-wide graduation ceremony amid the "pro-Pakistan and anti-Israel" protests, students still took different forms of protest at the graduation ceremonies of different colleges. On May 12, a number of Columbia Ph.D. students left the scene holding Palestinian flags at the college's graduation ceremony, while a master's of arts student at Columbia University held Palestinian flags and wrote slogans "Withdraw from genocide" from the podium where they received their diplomas, according to social media footage from the protesting student organizations.
According to the New York Post, on May 10, at Columbia University's social work graduation ceremony, a number of students tied their hands and wore Arabic headscarves in protest. Footage from the scene showed a student tearing apart immediately after receiving his graduation certificate. There are also students who put up "In memory of the 2024 Gaza graduates, and those who will never graduate" on their graduation caps.
On April 30, the president of Columbia University authorized the police to enter the occupied Hamilton school building to clear the site and clear the "Stand up for Pakistan Against Israel" tent camp on the campus's central lawn, and hundreds of people were arrested. At present, Columbia University still has a police presence stationed on campus to patrol the campus, but graduates and their relatives and friends can register to enter the campus with their identity documents.
The New Yorker, known for its satirical work on current events, set up a cover cartoon for May 20, depicting college graduates with their hands tied and receiving their diplomas under the watchful eyes of the police. Previously, police were also clearing the protests at other New York universities, including NYU, and students moved demonstrations offcampus.
A little more news:
Protesters at several universities in the Netherlands have occupied campus buildings
Demonstrators in several universities in the Netherlands have occupied campus buildings and held protests in solidarity with Palestine.
On the afternoon of the 13th, at the University of Amsterdam, a large number of students, faculty and staff sat on both sides of the river in front of the law school and shouted slogans, calling on the university to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and condemning the police for violently dispersing campus demonstrators last week. The police then arrived and asked the protesters to leave the campus on their own, during which the two sides clashed, with the demonstrators sitting on the ground forming a human wall to prevent the police from advancing, while the police brandished batons in an attempt to drive them away. In addition, pro-Palestinian demonstrations also broke out at the University of Groningen and the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands on the same day.
Since May 6, students at universities in the Netherlands have launched campaigns to protest the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, and police have clashed with students at one point.
Source: Phoenix Satellite TV Chen Feifei and Zhang Zhaoyu report from New York
Editor: Mu Mu