The police used pepper spray to remove a camp of people supporting Palestine at George Washington University. They also arrested many protesters on Wednesday. This happened just as city officials were going to talk to Congress about how they handled the protest.
The hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability was canceled after the crackdown. The chairman and other Republicans were happy with the police action. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that we shouldn’t have to threaten to drag DC’s mayor before Congress in order to keep Jewish students at George Washington University safe.
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she and Police Chief Pamela Smith decided to remove the camp because they received new information about more dangers. “The mayor said that we always consider public safety and act responsibly in response to protests. ”
Smith said the protest was getting more dangerous and less steady. He said that protesters had made weapons and were looking at university buildings to possibly take them over. This was said by Jeffery Carroll, who works for the police department. Bowser and Smith were asked to speak to the panel in the afternoon, but then the hearing was canceled.
Tensions have increased at protests against the Israel-Hamas war at universities in the United States and Europe. Some colleges acted quickly and strictly. Others have accepted the protests. Some people are getting impatient and asking the police to help with problems that are making campus life and safety difficult.
On Tuesday night, the police went to the University of Massachusetts to end a camp that was set up there. A video showed police in Amherst spending hours taking down tents and arresting protesters. The surgery went on until Wednesday morning.
The police arrested around 130 people on Tuesday night because they didn’t listen when they were told to leave.
The police in DC said they broke up the protest at George Washington because it was getting more and more intense. They arrested 33 people, some for attacking a police officer and for entering unlawfully. They admitted to using pepper spray on protesters outside the camp who were trying to get past the police.
George Washington said that if the camp on University Yard keeps going, there might be suspensions. People holding signs that said “Free Palestine” and “Hands off Rafah” walked to the home of the school President Ellen Granberg on Tuesday night.
The school said that they support students’ rights to express themselves freely, but the camp had become illegal and broke many rules.
Since April 18, more than 2,600 people have been arrested at 50 different colleges. This information is based on reports from the Associated Press and statements from the universities and police after a protest against war started at Columbia University in New York.
Police in riot gear removed a tent camp supporting Palestine at the University of Chicago after the school decided the protesters were causing safety issues. Many protesters had come together for eight days, but on Friday the administrators warned them to leave or be removed.
Chicago police officers then took a barrier that was put up to keep protesters away from the main area and moved it closer to the protesters. Some of the protesters were chanting “Up, up with liberation. ” “End the occupation. ” shouted the protesters and police were trying to control the situation by pushing back and forth at the barricade.
“The university is a place where people can share different opinions, but we can’t let one group overpower and disrupt the community for everyone else,” said Paul Alivisatos, the president of University of Chicago.
Other schools are allowing protestors to have gatherings and set up their camps how they want.
The president of Wesleyan University, a school in Connecticut, supports the on-campus protest, which includes a tent camp supporting Palestine, as a way for students to express their political opinions. The camp has more than 100 tents now, which is a lot more than the 20 tents it had a week ago.
“The protesters are bringing attention to the killing of innocent people, which is an important cause,” said university President Michael Roth to the campus community. “We will let them keep doing that, as long as it doesn’t cause problems on campus. ”
The president of the Rhode Island School of Design, Crystal Williams, talked with protesters for over five hours about their requests after students began occupying a building on Monday.
On Tuesday, the school said it will move classes to a different place because the building had posters saying “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza Live. ”
Some colleges have used different approaches, from trying to make peace to threatening students with punishment, in order to have their graduation ceremonies.
In Amherst, UMass police arrested 109 people and are still deciding on charges for about 25 others. School Chancellor Javier Reyes said he ordered the cleaning because they couldn’t agree to take down the encampment and talk things out.
A week ago, the George Washington encampment had a visit from some Republican members of the House oversight panel. They were upset about the protests and didn’t like that Bowser didn’t send in police.
Bowser said on Monday that the city and police department said no to the university’s request for help. “We didn’t have any violence on the GW campus to stop,” she said at that time.
However, early Wednesday morning, many police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department arrived at the scene, as reported by The GW Hatchet, which is the newspaper for the university’s students.
At least two police officers used pepper spray on protesters. The protesters then made a makeshift medical area at a market near the campus. The event planners quickly went to a store to get water to wash their eyes.
Tag: Pro-Palestinian
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33 people arrested at D.C. campus as police clear pro-Palestinian protest camp
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators detained at Yale
The police arrested a large number of people at a demonstration in favor of Palestine at Yale University on Monday.This happened after Columbia University decided to cancel in-person classes because protesters made tent camps at its New York City campus last week.
Protesters stopped traffic near Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, asking the school to stop investing in companies that make weapons for the military. The police took more than 45 protesters into custody, as reported by Yale Daily News, which is run by students.
“Students at Yale, Columbia, and other universities started protesting because of the fighting between Israel and Palestine. It all started after Hamas attacked from across the border and people were killed. ” Israel reacted strongly in a part of Gaza controlled by Hamas.
Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik sent an email to Columbia staff and students on Monday. She said the university was stopping in-person classes and switching to online teaching to calm things down and give everyone time to think about what to do next.
Last week, Shafik asked the police in New York to remove a tent camp that protesters had set up on Columbia’s main lawn. The protesters were demanding the school stop investing in Israel, and some teachers didn’t like this move.
The school said the campsite broke the rules. The police arrested over 100 students from Columbia for trespassing on Thursday. Columbia University and Barnard College have stopped many students from participating in the protests.
Shafik said that people who don’t go to Columbia University have made the tensions there worse by coming to campus and pushing their own ideas. Last week, Shafik spoke to a group of US lawmakers to explain why the school responded the way it did to claims of antisemitism by protesters.
Republicans in the House and Senate, along with one Democratic senator, asked Shafik to step down in letters and statements on Monday.
The New York Police Department has deployed many officers on the busy streets near Columbia University. Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups have been having angry confrontations in this area. The police got reports that Israeli students had their flags taken from them, but there were no reports of any students being physically hurt, according to Tarik Shappard, the top police spokesperson, at a press conference on Monday near the campus.
The students who are protesting have been sleeping outside on the grass for a few nights, and now they have put up tents again. Students at the encampment have arranged prayers for both Muslims and Jews. Some of them have also spoken out against Israel and Zionism and have praised the armed resistance of Palestinians.
Over 100 Columbia teachers joined students on Monday to support them at the outdoor camp. They planned an outdoor meal to celebrate the first day of the Jewish Passover holiday.‘Bad and unsafe’
US President Joe Biden is being criticized for giving money and weapons to Israel. He said his government is working hard to protect the Jewish community.
Biden said that recently we have seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This open display of hating Jewish people is very wrong and harmful. It should not be allowed on college campuses or anywhere in our country.
The Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, said he was very upset about the antisemitic behavior happening at Columbia University. He mentioned a woman yelling “We are Hamas” and groups of students chanting “We don’t want any Zionists here. ”
Students from the Columbia encampment didn’t like what Biden and Adams said. They said some of them are Jewish and news outlets are only talking about people who don’t speak for them.
“We strongly say no to hate or prejudice and are watchful for anyone who is not a student trying to cause trouble among our Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Black, and pro-Palestinian classmates and colleagues,” they said in a statement.
Lea Salim, a second-year student at Barnard, said that it is obvious that people who are not part of the group do not know what this gathering is for. She mentioned that she and 14 other Jewish students were arrested on the Columbia lawn last week. Salim said it’s okay to criticize Israel without hating Jewish people.
She said the students strongly and angrily condemn the people who have been bothering Jewish students in the public streets near the campus.
The students want the school to stop investing in companies that make money from Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. They also want the school to be clear about where they invest their money. They also want forgiveness for students and teachers who have been punished for speaking out in support of Palestinian freedom.
The president of Columbia University said in her email to everyone on campus that the protesters need to be willing to make a deal. Shafik wrote that one group should not be able to disrupt important events like graduation to push their own ideas.
Columbia University’s graduation will happen on May 15th. -
21 people detained during Halifax pro-Palestinian protest
Halifax police arrested 21 people at a pro-Palestinian protest in downtown Halifax on Monday morning.
The police said that the 21 people who were arrested will be set free on Monday. They will also be charged for getting in the way, and some will also be charged for not using a sidewalk and not following the directions of a police officer.
Protesters were standing in a group at an intersection and sitting in a circle in the middle of the road.The police arrested 21 people because they wouldn’t go away after the police had talked to the them to try and move off the road. More than twelve police officers were also seen at the place.
According to A15Halifax, they were demonstrating to support an economic blockade for Palestine.
The Hollis Street and Terminal Road area is no longer blocked, but a group of 20 to 30 protestors went to the police headquarters on Gottingen Street around 11:30 am.
“We want everyone to know that we support peaceful protests, but we will take action to keep the public safe if needed,” the statement says. -
Pro-Palestinian protestors claim they have been demonised after PM event was cancelled
The people who planned a protest supporting Palestine and interrupted a party with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say they are being treated unfairly.
The event with the Italian Prime Minister was canceled because protesters blocked the entrance to the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Toronto police said that nobody got hurt during the protest with about 400 people, and nobody was taken to jail. But they are still checking things.
Dalia Awwad, who works with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said that officials are unfairly criticizing protesters to avoid discussing Canada’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
“Politicians are trying to change the story and avoid taking responsibility for their part in the genocide,” Awwad said on Monday.
She said they are trying to focus on the protests, but the real issue is the Canadian government’s role.
The Canadian government has not said whether they think Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, which is something South Africa is talking about at the United Nations’ top court.
The Canada Liberals support the International Court of Justice and want Israel to try to reduce harm to civilians. They also blame Hamas for attacking Israel.
The war started after October. 7 rampage, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. 7 violent attack, where militants killed 1,200 people and held 250 others captive. Israeli forces have attacked the land in Palestine controlled by Hamas, and Gaza’s Health Ministry says that 30,000 Palestinians have died in a growing crisis for people in need.
There have been many protests in Canada lately. Jewish and Muslim groups are saying they see more hate and police are reporting more hate crimes.
At the protest in Toronto, people stopped others from going into the art gallery. Neither Trudeau nor Meloni went inside the place. The place was briefly locked down. Ahmed Hussen, a government official, tried to enter a building but protesters stopped him. He was followed by the protesters and police as he walked to another entrance.
Some people told Hussen it was wrong for him to say he is a Muslim. “You are part of the genocide. ” Your hands are the color red. “You helped kill my family and friends,” said one person protesting to him.
On Sunday, the former public safety minister Marco Mendicino called the gallery protesters “thugs” and said they were against Jewish people.
The gallery was not safe. And that’s what they were trying to do. “They don’t want other Canadians to feel safe,” Mendicino said in a bunch of posts on X.
“If you do something against the law, the police will arrest you, and you will have to go to court to face charges and punishment. ” These bad people thought they won last night, but all they did was lose people’s support and make themselves look bad. It’s time for the craziness to end.
Amira Elghawaby, a person appointed to help stop discrimination against Muslims in Canada, criticized the quick judgement that protests supporting Palestine are dangerous to the public.
She said on social media that it is both bad and risky to hide the truth about why peaceful protests are happening.
Deborah Lyons, who represents Canada in fighting antisemitism, said that the cancellation happened because the organizers gave in to the unreasonable demands of a loud and unruly group.
Michael DeForge, who helps run the Toronto group Writers Against the War on Gaza, said it was a victory in the effort to get politicians to change their plans.
He said Trudeau is involved in the death of Palestinians.
DeForge said that Meloni is a leader of a far-right nationalist group and has shown support for the killing of Palestinians.
Meloni and Trudeau both want to have two separate countries, one for Palestinians and one for Israel, to stop the fighting.
Italy has worked together with G7 countries to speak out against the killing of Palestinian civilians.
Last month, many people criticized a protest outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto because they thought the place was chosen on purpose.
In a statement written together, the three groups that planned the march said they are not antisemitic.
“We disapprove of Canadian politicians who are wrongly saying the protest is aimed at the hospital,” the groups stated.
Zoe Newman from Jews Say No to Genocide was at the protest on Saturday and disagreed with people calling it antisemitic.
“It’s really upsetting to see antisemitism being used in a way that changes its meaning,” she said in an interview on Monday. Trudeau meeting with someone who has antisemitic views is not seen as antisemitic, but when we protest, it is seen as antisemitic.
She said that framing is linked to unfair views about Palestinians, showing them all as violent and unsafe.
Newman said that some people call pro-Palestinian protests antisemitic, but others are glad to see her there, especially when she wears clothes that show she is Jewish.
“I think it’s very strong to see at a protest,” she said. “Some people feel safe when they express criticism of the Israeli government, even though some may unfairly link this criticism to all Jewish people. ”
“Having a Jew speaking can make the story more complex. “ -
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempt to overrun Turkish US military facility
This is the troubling moment when supporters of Palestine attempted to forcefully enter a United States military base located in Turkey, which is a member of NATO.
Fights broke out outside the Incirlik Air Base in the city of Adana today. A few hundred people gathered to support Gazans who are being hurt by Israel’s bombings.
A video on social media showed them sprinting on a dirty field while holding flags from Turkey and Palestine.
The protesters broke through barriers and threw plastic chairs and rocks at the Turkish police.
Police officers in protective gear stayed strong, hitting people with their sticks during close fights and using strong water sprays and tear gas against the crowd.
Videos show people running in the opposite way and trying to keep safe from the water blast.
The protest was arranged by a Turkish aid organization called IHH. It took place shortly before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to have discussions about the crisis in Gaza in Ankara.
The president of IHH, Bulent Yildirim, spoke to a crowd in Adana and asked them not to harm the police.
“My friends, it is not right to throw rocks or engage in similar actions because it may lead to the police and soldiers going to Gaza to fight. They will go there when the appropriate time comes,” he explained.
We are very angry. We can’t keep it inside.
The IHH stopped the rally earlier than planned because of fights with the police.
Turkey has been criticizing Israel more as the situation in Gaza gets worse. They support the idea of two separate states for Israel and Palestine and are hosting members of a group called Hamas, who fight for Palestinian rights.
Since the fighting started about a month ago and as more and more civilians are being killed, people in the country have started protesting.
Last month, he organized a very big gathering in Istanbul and claimed that 1. 5 million people were present. He criticized Israel, calling them an ‘occupier’ and accused them of behaving like a ‘war criminal’.
Turkey announced on Saturday that it is calling its ambassador back from Israel for discussions and cutting off communication with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Erdogan blames Netanyahu for the harm caused to civilians and holds him personally responsible.