Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the United States and around the world in recent weeks. <\/p>\n
More than 2,000 people have been arrested at US campuses since April 18, amid polarized debates over the right to protest, the limits of free speech and accusations of antisemitism. <\/p>\n
But while clashes and standoffs with police at New York\u2019s Columbia University, Portland State and UCLA have captured global attention, demonstrations and sit-ins are also being held on campuses in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. <\/p>\n
And although demands among protesters vary at each university, the majority of demonstrations have called for colleges to divest from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The current war began on October 7 when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 200 people hostage. Israel\u2019s military response has since sparked a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has inflamed opinion globally. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s seven month bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 34,600 people, according to the Gaza health ministry. Half of the 2.2 million people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation and man-made famine is imminent, according to a scale used by United Nations agencies. Concerns are also heightened over an anticipated Israeli military operation in southern Gaza\u2019s Rafah, prompting renewed calls for a ceasefire. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at some of the pro-Palestinian campus protests around the world. <\/p>\n
Over the past few weeks, pro-Palestinian protest camps have appeared in at least seven universities across Australia. <\/p>\n
The University of Queensland in Brisbane has become a gathering point for rival camps pitched around 100 meters (328 feet) from each other \u2013 one populated by supporters of the Students for Palestine UQ, and another smaller cluster of tents with the Israeli flag among others strung between trees. <\/p>\n
They were erected in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza and student protesters in the US, but some Jewish groups say they\u2019re causing unnecessary tension on campus and Australia\u2019s opposition leader has called them \u201cracist\u201d and \u201cantisemitic.\u201d <\/p>\n
Students for Palestine UQ want the university to disclose all links to Israeli companies and universities and to cut ties with weapons companies. <\/p>\n
So far, violent scenes that have erupted at universities across the US have not been repeated in Australia. <\/p>\n
At the University of Sydney, about 50 tents line the quadrangle where up to 100 protesters are sleeping each night. On May 3, Jewish groups held a counter protest against what they said is \u201ca disturbing trend of antisemitic and anti-Israel activities\u201d at the university. <\/p>\n
More than 200 people, some wearing Israeli and Australian flags, gathered at the Sydney campus, but there was no direct encounter between them and the pro-Palestinian group, which had urged followers to help them \u201cdefend\u201d their camp. <\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protests have been held at universities across the United Kingdom since the early days of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, with some setting up encampments in recent days. <\/p>\n
At Newcastle University, a small pro-Palestinian encampment has been set up on a lawn in front of the college\u2019s buildings, video and pictures on social media showed. <\/p>\n
The X account \u201cNewcastle Apartheid Off Campus\u201d shared images of their encampment, which shows around a dozen tents on the lawn, some adorned with Palestinian flags. <\/p>\n
The group describes itself as a \u201cstudent-led coalition fighting for an end to Newcastle University\u2019s partnership with defense companies supplying Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n
Students in the English cities of Leeds, Bristol and Warwick have also set up tents outside their university buildings to protest the war in Gaza, according to PA news agency. <\/p>\n
The campus protests in Britain have received criticism from some Jewish student groups amid calls for universities to take their duty of care to Jewish students more seriously. <\/p>\n
In Paris, pro-Palestinian protests erupted at the Sciences Po university and the Sorbonne university in late April. <\/p>\n
On Friday, riot police cleared the main hall of Sciences Po, with protesters shouting \u201cshame!\u201d and \u201cfree Palestine!,\u201d though the removal otherwise appeared to take place calmly. <\/p>\n
Dozens of students had begun a sit-in inside the university the previous day, prompting the closure of the campus, a Sciences Po spokesperson said. One protester said a student had begun a hunger strike in protest at the university\u2019s response to \u201cstudents wishing to support Palestine.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sciences Po is one of France\u2019s most highly ranked universities and the alma mater of a slew of presidents including incumbent leader Emmanuel Macron. It has strong ties to Columbia University, where students have been staging widespread pro-Palestinian protests. <\/p>\n
Amid the protests, the Ile-de-France region president said the university will no longer receive funding from the Parisian regional authority, \u201cuntil serenity and security are restored to the school.\u201d <\/p>\n
Samuel Lejoyeaux, president of the Union of Jewish Students of France, called for more dialogue between protesters on both sides of the ideological divide. <\/p>\n
In a piece for Le Monde newspaper on Thursday, he said pro-Palestinian protesters needed to do more to \u201cclearly denounce anti-Semitism\u201d but that sending in police was not the answer. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never be happy to see CRS [riot police] entering a campus,\u201d he wrote.\u201cMore than anything, I believe in dialogue. The great social advances in France have always been the fruit of militancy and debate,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Protests have been held at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, in solidarity with students protesting at Columbia. <\/p>\n
The protests coincided with an expected visit to the campus by US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, which was postponed. <\/p>\n
\u201cJNU\u2019s premises shall not provide a platform for administrations and personnel representing nations complicit in terrorism and genocide committed by Israel,\u201d said a statement from JNU\u2019s student union on April 29. The union has also expressed solidarity with protesters at Columbia. <\/p>\n
JNU, one of India\u2019s top universities, has been at the forefront of several protest movements, including 2019 demonstrations against a controversial law that critics say discriminates against Muslims. <\/p>\n
Two student political parties at Jamia Milia Islamia University in New Delhi also expressed solidarity with pro-Palestinian protesters. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe also denounce the stance taken by our BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-led government in supporting Israel, which deviates from India\u2019s historical position,\u201d said a statement from the Communist Party-affiliated Students\u2019 Federation of India. <\/p>\n
Protests against Israel\u2019s war in Gaza have swept campuses across Canada. <\/p>\n
At McGill University in downtown Montreal, pro-Palestinian student protesters have set up an encampment on the front lawn. <\/p>\n
Like their counterparts in the US, students are demanding the college divest from companies with ties to Israel. <\/p>\n
The university has attempted to disperse the protesters, saying it had requested police assistance after dialogue with student representatives failed to reach a resolution. <\/p>\n
On May 2, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected an injunction request that would have forced the pro-Palestinian protesters to leave their encampment. <\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protesters have also set up encampments at the University of Toronto\u2019s downtown campus and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, among others, according to public broadcaster CBC News. <\/p>\n
Hundreds of students gathered at campuses in Lebanon in late April, waving Palestinian flags and demanding their universities boycott companies that do business in Israel, Reuters reported. <\/p>\n
In the capital, images showed students at the American University of Beirut protesting the war in Gaza outside the gates. <\/p>\n
Some protesters said they were inspired by protests on US campuses. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to show to show the whole world that we have not forgotten the Palestinian cause and that the young generation \u2013 which is aware and cultured \u2013 is still with the Palestinian cause,\u201d Ali al-Muslem, 19, told Reuters. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s military and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have routinely exchanged fire since October 7. More than 300 people \u2014 mostly fighters \u2014 have died in Israeli strikes. Eight civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel since last October. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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