Protests in Gaza: Police raid on Columbia demonstration sparked a movement on campus

Protests in Gaza: Police raid on Columbia demonstration sparked a movement on campus

On Wednesday, April 17, before daybreak, a small group of Columbia institution students set up tents to protest Israeli military action in Gaza and to demand that their institution cease doing business with organizations they believe to be in favor of the war.

They did so as Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik, traveled to Capitol Hill to answer questions from Congress about antisemitism on campus and her response to it.

That Wednesday, after almost four hours of interrogation, she justified the steps she had previously taken. "Pupils are getting the message that violations of our policies will have consequences," the speaker said.

The president of Columbia made a decision the next day that set off a nationwide firestorm of protest at campuses around the country.

She said the kids at the protest camp had created a "harassing and intimidating environment" for many of their friends, were trespassing, and had refused to leave.

She had the NYPD called in.

Less than a half-century had passed since the previous major arrests on Columbia University during anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. The policemen, who belonged to the biggest police force in the United States, quickly apprehended over 100 students while armed with plastic handcuffs and wearing riot gear.

Rashida Mustafa, a Columbia doctorate student, remarked, "It was shocking to us all. "I couldn't believe it. However, I sensed a summons to action."

Students' reaction was instantaneous. A second grass a little distance away had become the site of another protest camp by the following day.

It had grown from a few tents to a crowded campground, with live music, buffet-style dinners made of donated food, and a "security team" stationed at the entrance to keep an eye out for intruders. It was much larger than it had been before.

A day later, Yale University in Connecticut, another prestigious college, hosted a protest camp a little over 70 miles (112 km) northeast of Columbia.

Demonstrations had spread throughout the nation's campuses by the middle of this week and continued until the weekend: US police said on Saturday that they had put a stop to a second demonstration at Boston's Northeastern University, making around 100 arrests.

There is a nationwide campaign that the Columbia students started.

University administrators are facing difficult issues in light of the students' ire over Israel's tactics in the battle against Hamas. These administrators are already dealing with contentious discussions on campus over events in the Middle East.

How can they strike a compromise between the need to keep other students safe from danger and abuse and the freedom of expression and protest? When will the police be sent in to enforce university regulations, knowing full well that harsh replies will be captured on camera and broadcast quickly across millions of social media feeds?

Many students were still sleeping when police at Yale arrived at a protest campsite in the middle of the campus early on April 22. Some of the students locked arms around a flagpole as they refused to leave, leading to the arrest of over fifty individuals.

"They arrived abruptly and with great speed. "A large number of police officers just poured into the plaza," law student Chisato Kimura told the BBC from New Haven.

"Seeing a militarised force, invited by Yale to come onto campus, was very jarring," she said. "We were peacefully protesting."

Following Hamas' onslaught on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians, and the kidnapping of 253 more, US college campuses have become hotspots for rallies against the Gaza conflict. The health ministry operated by Hamas reports that since then, over 34,000 people have died in Gaza, the most of whom being women and children.

Protesters in Columbia swear to stay until their demands are satisfied. "Stay strong," parents implore the hostages in Gaza after seeing a video.

No respite for Gazans while the world concentrated on assaults from Iran

But during the last ten days, US demonstrations have been more numerous and fierce than they have in the previous six months. After clearing up the first Columbia camp, simmering tensions erupted, leading to altercations and arrests in other locations.

300 students were blocking a campus lawn on Wednesday at the campus of Texas in Austin when state officers, some mounted on horses, intervened. A video of a female professor being stopped and detained by a police officer at Emory University in Atlanta went viral on Thursday. The educator was wrestled to the ground by the officer.

At George Washington University in Washington, DC, Emerson College in Boston, New York University, as well as the University of Southern California (USC), police have also detained demonstrators.

The protest encampments are requesting that university authorities sever links with Israeli academic institutions, declare a formal ceasefire, and "divest" school endowments from businesses they believe are connected to Israel's attack in Gaza.

A few Jewish instructors and students have expressed concern about their safety. And part of the reason why Ms. Shafik and other university authorities called in the police was because of these worries.

Columbia political science professor Page Fortna said, "Students deserve a right to protest." "But they don't have a right to protest in a way that makes pupils who want feel discriminated against or harassed."

Jewish students at several colleges described unsettling experiences they had this week, including physical altercations, imagined threats, and shouts and posters endorsing Hamas, a banned terrorist organization.

Apologies to the protest leader for saying "kill Zionists"

Jewish student at USC Eli Kia, 22, said that he has been living in continual dread and anxiety as a result of the demonstrations. He wears a Star of David on a necklace, which he has started to conceal.

He told the BBC, "It's impossible to feel safe coming to school every day." " It indicates that second consideration when you walk on campus of "what" am I going to walk into?' and 'what am I facing?', as well as 'who's potentially coming after me?'"

Authorities at Northeastern University said that some of the demonstrators' use of antisemitic chants was the reason for their decision to take action on Saturday. According to the university, strangers joined the rally, which began as student protests.

In an effort to disassociate themselves from antisemitic acts, several protestors have placed the blame for some of these instances on outside agitators. They argue that the emphasis should be on the number of civilian deaths in Gaza and that many Jewish students have joined the demonstrations.

Many protesters, as well as those who support them outside, believe that the movement will continue because of what they perceive to be oppressive police methods while discussions between institutions and students go on.

Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a Democrat who has been vocally critical of the Biden administration's Gaza policy, told the BBC this week while visiting the Columbia encampment, "The arrangement is a movement that started with only 70 students."

"And because Columbia University decided to crack down on them, as well as violate their first amendment, terrorism has now spread nationally and internationally."

One of the detained Columbia demonstrators was her daughter.

USC student Omar Zegar said he thought Columbia was only the beginning of a larger movement. "I think a lot of universities nationwide are going to start doing these encampments," he said. "The police escalated the situation."

Some analysts compare the protests to anti-US rallies during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Similar to the Vietnam War, Marianne Hirsch, a professor at Columbia University who took part in the demonstrations in the 1960s, told reporters this week that the circumstances in Gaza should make it "impossible to continue business as usual".

The protest wave also comes at a politically taxing moment for President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection and has come under fire from certain quarters for his nation's support of Israel.

Some Democrats are worried that thousands of demonstrators would throng Chicago this summer, the city where the party will officially nominate him for president. Protests against the Vietnam War dominated the 1968 convention, which was held in Chicago as well.

Attending rallies this week, USC graduate Ahmad Hasan expressed his belief that the student demonstrations will influence US sentiments more broadly.

"Students have always had the responsibility to inform others that this is wrong and that we will not tolerate it," he said.