EXPLAINER
From France to Australia, university students are taking part in pro-Palestinian protests, while Colombian students continue their camps.
As protests on campuses intensify, clashes between students and police have broken out across the United States.
What began as a Gaza solidarity camp at Columbia University, where students camped on campus to pressure their institute to divest from Israel-affiliated companies, has since spread to campuses in California, Texas and other states.
Now more than 20 universities in the United States are protesting Israel’s war on Gaza, where the Israeli military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and the blockade has led to famine.
But the protests are not just limited to the US; students around the world have been demonstrating in support of Gaza since the war broke out on October 7th. After the Columbia camps, protests have spread to universities from France to Australia. Here’s everything you need to know about Gaza student protests outside the US:
Which global universities are holding pro-Palestine protests?
- In Paris, France, students from Sorbonne University took to the streets. In addition, Sciences Po’s Palestine Committee is organizing a protest where students will set up about ten tents on Wednesday. Despite a crackdown by police, demonstrators gathered again on Thursday.
- In Australia, students at the University of Sydney set up pro-Palestinian camps on Tuesday and continued protesting on Friday. Additionally, University of Melbourne students pitched tents on the southern lawn of its main campus on Thursday.
- In Italy and Rome, students at Sapienza University organized demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes on April 17 and 18.
- Since the night of April 19, students from the Warwick Stands With Palestine group at the University of Warwick have occupied the campus piazza in England, United Kingdom. There was a protest rally in Leicester, England on Monday, in which students from the University of Leicester Palestine Society also took part.
- Last month, students at the University of Leeds occupied a campus building in protest against the university’s involvement with Israel.
What are the demands of student protesters outside the US?
Hicham, a student protesting at Sciences Po, also called the Paris Institute for Political Studies, told Al Jazeera: “We have a few demands, but one of them is to start investigating all the connections they have have.” [Sciences Po] with the State of Israel [are] academically and financially.”
He added that it had become “extremely difficult” to talk about Palestine in France because of the way the police responded.
Organizers also want Sciences Po to condemn Israel’s actions.
Sorbonne students call on French government to help Palestinians.
University of Sydney students are demanding their institute cut ties with Israeli universities and weapons manufacturers, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Warwick students have demanded that the university divest from companies they say are funding “genocide” committed by Israel, Warwick’s student-run newspaper The Boar reported. The Boar quoted an unnamed student protester as saying that while the US protests had strengthened them, they planned to take action.
The protest in Leicester took place outside the Elbit Systems UK drone factory on Monday and called for the factory to be closed. Student protesters in Leeds last month called for the suspension of Jewish cleric Zecharia Deutsch, who served in the Israeli army during the war on Gaza.
Is there a police crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters outside the US?
On Wednesday, police broke up the Sciences Po demonstration after the institute made “numerous attempts” to peacefully evacuate students, AFP reported.
The institute’s Palestine Committee released a statement Thursday saying the protesters were “carried out of the school by more than 50 members of the security forces,” adding that “around 100” police officers “were also waiting for them outside.” “.
Hicham said he and his classmates had occupied their school for three days. “We went to a building, them [the university] We called the police, we had to get out and we went to the main historic building,” he said.
“But I think the more repression that takes place, the more people mobilize,” he said. “Before we were maybe 300 people, [but] now there are 600 of us.”
The Sorbonne students were also surrounded by riot police, according to a video from Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“It will stay that way until we have an open and serious conversation about the issue,” a Sorbonne University student told Al Jazeera.