Photo: Michael Caesarey Associated Press An “illegal” encampment of a few tents was dismantled by university police officers and local law enforcement in riot gear, according to images posted on social media.
Joseph Prezioso – Agence France-Presse and Nicolas Revise – Agence France-Presse Respectively in Boston and New York
Published at 12:00 p.m. Updated at 12:06 p.m.
- United States
Around a hundred people considered to be pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested Saturday morning at a Boston university and their “illegal” encampment evacuated by police in riot gear, the latest episode in a movement that is becoming widespread on American campuses.
Leaving New York Columbia University ten days ago, this new episode of the wave of support for the Palestinians and against the war led by Israel in the Gaza Strip has spread to many establishments in the United States, from California to New England via the South of the country.
On the campus of Northeastern University in Boston, “approximately 100 individuals were arrested by police; students who presented their Northeastern U. cards were released […] Those who refused to prove their affiliation were arrested,” according to a university statement on X.
pic.twitter.com/KLnXgbuymI
— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) April 27, 2024
“Killing Jews”
The school added that “violent anti-Semitic slurs” such as “killing Jews” were made on campus last night and that it “went too far.”
An “illegal” encampment of a few tents was dismantled by university police and local law enforcement in riot gear, according to footage posted on social media.
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“What began two days ago as a student protest has been infiltrated by professional organizers with no connection to Northeastern U,” the university explained.
The arrested students will be subject to “disciplinary procedures” but “no legal measures”.
In addition, the presidency of Columbia, epicenter of the student mobilization movement, indicated Friday evening that it had given up on having the New York police evacuate a tent village of 200 people on a lawn from its campus, but announced that a leader of the movement had been banned from entering after comments deemed anti-Zionist in a video.
Tensions also rose a notch at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), whose president had to resign this winter after statements before the United States Congress considered ambiguous on the fight against anti-Semitism.< /p>
The presidency on Saturday ordered the immediate dismantling of an encampment on campus after “credible reports of harassment and intimidation”.
Riot police
The images of riot police arresting students, after university leaders called the police, went around the world.
They echo the movement on American campuses during the Vietnam War. Even the painful memory when the Ohio National Guard opened fire in May 1970 on the campus of Kent State University, killing four peaceful students.
The solidarity movement with Gaza has taken a very political turn seven months before the American presidential election, between allegations of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism and defense of freedom of expression which is a constitutional right to United States.
The country has the largest number of Jews in the world behind Israel (some six million) and also millions of Arab-Muslim Americans.
This week, across the United States, particularly in California and Texas, hundreds of students and pro-Palestinian activists were arrested and most often released without prosecution.
And in these rallies for Gaza many Jewish students, often left-wing, actively support the Palestinian cause, keffiyeh on their shoulders, also denouncing a “genocide” perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians.
But many other Jewish American students have expressed their discomfort, and even their fear, in the face of slogans they consider anti-Semitic.
For example, Skyler Sieradzky, 21, studies philosophy and political science at George Washington University in the capital, said he was spat on when he arrived on Thursday with an Israeli flag.
“They call us terrorists, they call us violent. But the only tool we have is our voices,” said a student at Columbia who introduced herself only as “Mimi”.
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out from Gaza against Israel by Hamas commandos, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data.
In retaliation, Israel promised to destroy the Islamist movement, and its vast military operation in the Gaza Strip has so far left 34,388 people dead, mostly civilians, according to Hamas.< /p>