Protests in support of Palestine at American colleges: Physical altercations at UCLA.
Footage from CNN captured police dismantling barricades surrounding the protest site at UCLA and detaining several people. Stun grenades were utilized to disperse the crowd, a reporter on the scene reported. The sky above the campus was filled with choppers.
"This is essentially a peaceful protest, there's no counter-protesting happening here tonight," remarked Jack Bedrosian, a Los Angeles local, to AFP. "So it's pretty reprehensible for the cops to show up like this."
LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia provided context to AFP online: "There were rioters from outside who attacked peacefully protesting students last night, and it was unprotected."
On the preceding Wednesday night, violent encounters occurred between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters at UCLA. The pro-Israeli activists employed chemicals against the pro-Palestinian protest encampment and tried to remove the barriers, forcing police intervention. Criticism was leveled at the police for their delayed response. In response, UCLA moved from in-person to online teaching.
Dallas experienced police tear-down of pro-Palestinian protesters' tent area at the University of Texas on Wednesday and well over a dozen arrests. At Fordham University in New York, officers dismantled an Occupy-like camp set up in a building, resulting in several arrests.
In New York City, police stood by on Wednesday after many arrests had been made the night before at Columbia University. Around 300 arrests were made at the two universities, according to the police.
Demonstrators at MIT in Massachusetts occupied a roadway during rush hour.
Over the past month, these protests have affected around 30 US colleges. The pro-Palestinian protesters have pitched tent camps calling out the catastrophic casualties in Gaza from the battle between radical Islamic Hamas and Israel.
The demonstrations began at prestigious Columbia University and spread across the US. The students' demands include university divestment from firms with links to Israel, a request that these universities have declined.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog sternly rebuked American universities in connection with the recent events. He likened these institutions "laden with culture, history and knowledge" to being "contaminated with hatred and anti-Semitism." He added, "We witness with abomination as the atrocities committed on October 7 against Israel are defended and celebrated." The President extended support to Israeli students affected by the disruptions at the American campuses and globally.
The US House of Representatives in Washington endorsed the expansion of the legal definition of anti-Semitism on Wednesday. Members of Congress voted to pass a bipartisan bill. This would require the Department of Education to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. The bill has to be approved by the Senate.
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Source: www.stern.de
