Across the country, from California to Georgia to Cambridge, police detained hundreds of students who demonstrated against the US government’s funding of Israel so it can continue arming itself.
Protests began at Columbia University
On Wednesday, April 17, several student activists entered a plaza in front of the Butler Library, on the campus of the Columbia University, in Manhattan, New York.
They set up a few dozen tents, Palestinian flags and some handwritten signs (“Columbia finances genocide”; “As you read, Gaza bleeds” and others). The result was the arrest of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters.
This Wednesday the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson He went to the university to try to persuade students to stop the protests.
As he gave his speech, the young people shouted “We can’t hear you” and “Mike, you suck”. Faced with this pressure, Johnson responded: “Enjoy your freedom of speech.”
The initial protest sparked a wave of similar demonstrations on college campuses across the country. Harvard, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin and others were filled with young people dissatisfied with the actions of their Government in support of Tel Aviv.
Arrests, beatings and rubber bullets
The Los Angeles Police Department reported that more than 90 people They were arrested Wednesday night during a protest at the University of Southern California. One person was arrested for alleged assault with a weapon. The university reported in X, the same day, that the protest had ended but that the campus would remain closed.
Images posted by users on social networks show students trying to resist shouting at law enforcement, while the police even throw some of them to the ground.
At least 17 people were arrested Thursday on campus Emory University, located in the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area, AP reported. Protesters clashed with police authorities in a confrontation in which tear gas, stun guns and rubber bullets were reportedly used.
Students from the University of Texas at Austin also joined the protests. According to the Department of Public Safety of that state, law enforcement carried out on Wednesday 34 arrests on the premises of that educational institution. Videos in which officers are seen pushing back the crowd shouting “move” have gone viral on social media.
