EBN- From France to Australia, university students are part of pro-Palestine protests as Columbia students continue encampments.
What started as the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, where students are camping inside campus to push their institute to divest from companies linked to Israel, has since spread to campuses in California, Texas and other states.
Now, more than 40 universities in the US are protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and its blockade has caused starvation.
But the protests are not limited to the US, as students worldwide have been demonstrating in support of Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
Following the Columbia encampments, the protests have further spread to universities from France to Australia.
Students have been arrested at campuses in Los Angeles, California and in Atlanta, Georgia.
In Austin, Texas, the governor ordered state troopers to arrest protesters.
More than 100 protesters were arrested last week after the Ivy League university’s president asked police to clear the protest site. Her request followed her testimony to Congress about the university’s response to alleged antisemitism on campus.
But the mass arrests appear to have galvanised the movement, according to demonstrators who remained onsite one week later.
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was arrested at Columbia, told BBC News the movement started with just a few students but quickly spread due to the mass arrests.
“This is a movement that started with only 70 students,” she told BBC News at Columbia on Thursday.
“And because Columbia University decided to crack down on them and violate their First Amendment, this has now spread nationally and internationally.”
