Columbia University staff voice support for arrested pro-Palestine students

The mass walkout was held in protest against the university president’s decision to have the police arrest students at the last week’s encampment.

The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on campus. They had been torn down last week when the New York police department arrested more than 100 students, who were also suspended by the university.

Meanwhile the students on campuses around the United States have launched their protests with more than 40 students in

Yale University arrested for their pro-Palestine protest.

Students have called for their universities to back a ceasefire in Gaza and divest from companies with ties to Israeli regime.

Student demonstrators, including Jewish students, have denied accusations that their protests are antisemitic, blaming “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us” and describing the protests as peaceful and inclusive.

Other US colleges and universities have announced extreme measures to punish students who participate in peaceful protests supporting Palestine with the University of Michigan announcing a decision to draft new rules to punish disruptive behavior after students held a protest during the university’s convocation ceremony on Sunday.

The students condemned, in a statement, the ‘Israeli extremist government and other Western governments, including the US government’ as responsible for the war and the casualties.

The statement urged Columbia University to end its ties with apartheid Israel, including discontinuing the Columbia Global Center in Tel Aviv and the Dual Degree Program with Tel Aviv University.

They said,” The Columbia community must reassess its relationship with Israel in light of our core values of justice, peace, and human rights.”