“We certainly respect the right to peaceful protests”he told ABC’s “This Week” program, spokesman of the National Security Council John Kirby, but added the “absolute” condemnation ofl “language of antisemitism that we have heard lately and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and threats of violence that are out there.
University protests against the war in Gaza raise tension in the US
The wave of demonstrations began at the University of Columbia, in New York, but it has spread quickly throughout the country. Although peaceful protest has prevailed, the number of pro-Palestinian protesters detained by the police, sometimes with tear gas and tasers, increases.
Arrests total 100 at the University of Northeastern, in Boston; 80 at the university of Washington, in St. Louis; 72 in the Arizona State Universityand 23 in the Indiana.
University officials are trying to find a better response, but they are caught between respect for freedom of expression and the need to contain the inflammatory and sometimes violently anti-Semitic slogans of protesters.
protest in Georgia, USA.mp4
An American police officer detains a pro-Palestinian protester in Georgia.
The activists behind the university protests, not all of them students, ask for a ceasefire in war in Gaza and they want universities to sever ties with Israel.
With final exams in the following weeks, some universities have closed campuses and the work will continue and online classes.
The rectorate of Columbia, epicenter of the New York movement, indicated that had given up on the New York Police Department (NYPD) evacuating the camp installed on its campus to “not inflame even more” the situation.
However, to one of the leaders, Khymani James, He was prohibited from entering the university campus. In a video released in January, James said that “Zionists do not deserve to live”. The young man later apologized.
“The chants, signs, taunts and social media posts from our own students that They threaten to ‘kill’ Jews are totally unacceptable, and Columbia students involved in such incidents will be held accountable,” the university said.
protests in Washington.mp4
In California, The Humboldt Polytechnic University announced that it would close its headquarters until the end of the semesterand that the Work would continue remotely after several attempts this week to “break into multiple buildings.”
In the University of Pennsylvania, students remain in camp despite the fact that their rector ordered it to be dissolved after stating that there had been “credible reports of harassing and intimidating behavior.
Canada lived this Saturday first pro-Palestinian protest in the McGill University of Montreal, where protesters set up camp. The educational center said that camping was not permitted, as it “increases the potential for escalation and confrontation.”
On October 7, militants of Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,170 people, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures. They also took about 250 people hostage. Israel estimates that 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who have reportedly died.
In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has already killed at least 34,454 peoplemostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory.
