Chaotic and difficult to control is the situation in American universities where the student mobilizations started by the universities of New York are spreading, and in particular Columbia University where the students declare that they are unmoved by their demands and unyielding in their struggle.
Police arrested hundreds of protesters in various parts of the US, as the protests against the war on Gaza are intensifying on many college campuses.
Scenes of mayhem at the University of Texas
Chaotic scenes unfolded on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin as hundreds of local and federal police, including some on horseback, dispersed the baton-wielding protesters. Authorities said 34 people were arrested there.
In Texas the police acted before the would-be squatters took up residence. Riot police officers cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment in the center of the campus, preventing protesters from gathering.
The students were given a 10-minute warning by police helicopters to disperse. Those who refused were arrested on charges of trespassing.
The protest was reported to be largely peaceful at first, but then there were tensions attributed by the students to the continued police presence in the area.
As police tried to arrest a woman, protesters threw water bottles at them and shouted: “Let her go!”
Protesters gathered around police forces, shouting “Freedom in Palestine”. Many students wear the traditional Palestinian headscarf and hold placards and banners with pro-Palestinian slogans.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the National Guard to prevent protesters from marching through the campus, saying that “belong in prison”.
Footage on social media showed police pushing through the crowd while warning protesters over loudspeakers to leave the premises or face arrest.
“I command you in the name of the people of the state of Texas to disband,” the statement said.
A Fox News 7 Austin photographer he was seen falling to the ground with his camera while surrounded by members of the special forces.
The cameraman in question was arrested.
International agencies broadcast pictures of him in handcuffs, sitting on the ground. But shortly after, about 300 protesters regrouped, sat on the grass and they continued to shout the slogan “Freedom in Palestine”.
Arrests at other universities as well
About 108 arrests were made at Emerson College, a Boston police spokesman told CBS News. Elsewhere, three police officers were injured in the incidents in Boston, one of them seriously. No protesters were injured, police said.
Arrests were also made in California, where 93 people were arrested at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles on charges of trespassing. They were students who intended to occupy.
The escalation was sparked after the Columbia arrests
Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza spread across the country after more than 100 people were arrested at New York’s Columbia University last week after police tried to clear a student occupation and remove the tents they had set up.
The entire campus is littered with dozens of Palestinian flags and placards with slogans such as “real Americans stand with Gaza,” “demilitarize education,” and “there are no universities in Gaza”.
On the Columbia University campus in New York, several Jewish students expressed concerns that a threatening environment was developing for them on campus. Other protesters argue that incidents of harassment of Jewish students are rare.
The latest News
Be the first to read the News about what is happening now in Greece and the World at thetoc.gr
Tags: Chaos police interventions American universities Sitins ..
-
