SANA'A May 05. 2024 (Saba) - The student protest movement in American universities supporting the Palestinians and demanding an end to the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip is facing a fierce attack from American politicians, legislators and security forces who forcibly dismantled sit-in camps on university campuses.
While the US House of Representatives passed by a large majority last Wednesday a bill aimed at expanding the definition adopted by the Department of Education for the term "anti-Semitism" in a move aimed at political use to suppress rights and freedoms and prevent criticism of Zionist officials, the US police dismantled student camps on university campuses against the backdrop of the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, which were set up by pro-Palestinian students at various universities, the latest of which was the University of California Los Angeles, where dozens were arrested.
Part of the American political class is trying to pin the accusation of "anti-Semitism" on student protesters at universities, despite many Jews taking part in sit-ins at various American universities.
The definition states that "anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews that can manifest hatred towards them.
The rhetorical and material manifestations of anti-Semitism target Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or their property, community institutions and places of worship," while critics of the bill say the definition prohibits certain criticisms of the Zionist entity, something defended by the International Holocaust Remembrance Coalition (IHRA).
Early Friday, U.S. police peacefully dismantled a camp at New York University (NYU) at the foundation's request.
At the University of Chicago, the university administration called in the police to dismantle the camps under the pretext of "information about the existence of physical altercations" on campus, where images on social media platforms showed pro-Zionist demonstrators attacking demonstrators demanding an end to the aggression on Gaza.
Students and faculty members strongly criticized Columbia University President Minouche Shafiq's call twice for police to intervene and forcibly dismantle the camps, as security forces who intervened intensively last night removed students at Columbia University in Manhattan protesting the Zionist aggression on Gaza.
Security forces also dismantled other camps at the universities of Arizona in Tucson (southwest) and Wisconsin-Madison (north), according to local media.
The NYPD claimed Thursday that 48 percent of the 282 people arrested at the campuses of Columbia University and City College of New York on Tuesday night were protesters unaffiliated with the institutions.
At the University of Texas at Dallas, police on Wednesday evacuated a protest camp and arrested at least 17 people, the university said.
Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, announced an agreement with the students to dismantle their protest camp in exchange for the university organizing a vote on "divesting Brown from companies that facilitate and benefit from the Gaza genocide."
In France, police removed protesters from the Science Po building without incident.
Paris police said the police chief sent law enforcement to evacuate Sciences Poe.
91 people were taken out without incident.
At a rally in support of the Palestinian cause at the Pantheon Friday in Paris attended by young people and lawmakers from the radical left, Proud France leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said: "I have a duty to defend the commitment of young people to struggle against the genocide in Gaza.
I invite all those who can join them and support them morally and financially."
French police also took out students from the Institute of Political Studies in Lyon and deported dozens of students who were blocking the entrance to a campus in Saint-Etienne, near Lyon, for the second day in a row.
In contrast, the French government confirmed Friday that "firmness is complete and will remain complete," with police intervening to disperse the sit-in.
On Thursday, hundreds of pro-Palestinian students staged a sit-in at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
They are demanding an academic boycott of Zionist institutions and an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.
The organizers said in a statement that the move "follows the example of mobilization at universities in Canada, the United States and France."
In Mexico, dozens of students and pro-Palestinian activists in Mexico City on Thursday pitched tents in front of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's largest university, to protest the continued Zionist aggression on Gaza.
They chanted slogans including "Long live a free Palestine!" and "Palestine will win!"
The protesters have raised several demands, including that the Mexican government sever diplomatic and trade ties with Israel.
In Australia, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Friday staged a sit-in at a Sydney university that lasted for ten days.
Students of Al-Nahrain University in Baghdad on Thursday organized a stand in solidarity with the Gaza Strip and pro-Palestinian protests at American universities.
Students and professors of the Palestinian and Iraqi flags raised banners "Free Palestine."
And in Morocco... The Moroccan Authority for the Support of the Nation's Causes announced on Friday that it had organized 106 demonstrations in 52 cities in support of the Gaza Strip, which has been witnessing a devastating Zionist war since the seventh of last October.
The Commission said in a statement last night: "About 106 vigils and marches were organized in about 52 cities, in response to the Commission's call, in solidarity with Palestine, especially in Gaza on the 30th Friday of the Al-Aqsa Flood."
A few days ago, students at Lebanese universities organized several stands in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Dozens of students gathered inside the prestigious American University of Beirut campus, chanting "Intifada, Intifada" and waving Palestinian flags.
And a number of them put scarves Some carried a banner that read: "Removing occupation means establishing one democratic state from the river to the sea."
Others carried banners in solidarity with southern Lebanon and demanded an end to the Zionist aggression on Gaza.
Al-hamadani
resource : SABA
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