NEW YORK May 01. 2024 (Saba) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned the harsh American police measures towards demonstrations in support of the Gaza Strip in a number of American universities, considering them cruel and disproportionate.
The official United Nations website quoted Turk as saying that he was “disturbed by the “series of harsh steps” taken by some universities in the United States to disperse and dismantle the protests against the Gaza war,” stressing that “some law enforcement measures across a series of universities appear disproportionate in "its effects."
He continued "Incitement to violence or hatred based on identity or viewpoints - whether real or assumed - must be strongly rejected,"
He stressed that any violent behavior should be addressed on the basis of individual cases, and not through comprehensive measures that "attribute to all members of the demonstration unacceptable different viewpoints for a small number of people."
The move comes in the wake of the spread of demonstrations across the United States, across university campuses in particular, which were sparked by students at the prestigious Columbia University in New York, demanding that the authorities abandon support for Israel due to the war on Gaza and the humanitarian violations against civilians.
NBC News reported on Monday that the administration of Columbia University in New York had begun expelling students participating in the pro-Palestine protests.
Earlier, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch said that the response to student demonstrations in support of Palestine by the university administration was extremely harsh and deprived participants of the right to peaceful protest.
Police had previously arrested more than 100 people last week and removed tents from the main campuse of the Columbia University campus in Manhattan, but the demonstrators quickly returned and set up tents again.
Since then, authorities have arrested hundreds of demonstrators at several American universities as students set up tent sit-ins similar to those at Columbia University, demanding that universities stop investing in companies linked to the Israeli military.
The White House has defended freedom of expression on campuses, but President Joe Biden denounced "anti-Semitic protests" this week and stressed that campuses must be safe.
H.H
resource : Saba
| more of (International) |