War in the Middle East
Media: More than 2,000 arrests during protests at US universities
Oregon State Police form a line behind Portland State University’s Millar Library, where several pro-Palestinian protesters who had occupied the building were arrested. photo
© Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP/dpa
Pro-Palestinian protests at numerous universities have been keeping the USA in suspense for just over two weeks. Despite hundreds of arrests, the movement is spreading – also internationally.
During pro-Palestinian protests at several universities in the According to media reports, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in the USA in the past few weeks. Since April 18, arrests have been recorded at more than 40 universities in at least 25 states, CNN reported. There were protests in numerous other universities, but no arrests.
Protests against the Israeli military operation against the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and in solidarity with the Palestinians living there continued on Thursday. According to police, at least 30 people were arrested in Portland in the northwest of the USA. At Rutgers University in New Jersey, a protest camp was peacefully cleared after an agreement with the demonstrators, the university said in a statement.
University protests worldwide
Similar to the USA, pro-Palestinian protests are also taking place in other countries. According to CTV News, students have set up protest camps in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. According to ABC News, students are also demonstrating in Australian cities with over a million inhabitants such as Sydney and Melbourne. Pro-Palestinian rallies also took place at British and French universities.
The protests are mostly about demanding that universities and companies cut financial ties with Israel. Critics particularly accuse the radical part of the protest movement of anti-Semitism and trivializing Hamas – the Islamist organization denies Israel’s right to exist and triggered the Gaza war with an unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7th, in which around 250 people were abducted.
US President Joe Biden strongly condemned violence during the protests in a speech at the White House on Thursday. “There is the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos,” Biden said.