Campus protests in US over Gaza spread, intensify

Universities deploy police in tense face-offs that have led to dozens of arrests

A wave of pro-Palestinian protests spread and intensified on April 24 as students gathered on campuses around the US, in some cases facing off with the police, in a widening showdown over campus speech and the war in the Gaza Strip.

University administrators from Texas to California moved to clear protesters and prevent encampments from taking hold on their own campuses as they have at Columbia University, deploying the police in tense new confrontations that already have led to dozens of arrests.

At the same time, new protests continued erupting in places such as Pittsburgh and San Antonio.

Students expressed solidarity with their fellow students at Columbia, and with a pro-Palestinian movement that appeared to be galvanised by the pushback on other campuses and the looming end of the academic year.

Protesters on several campuses said their demands included divestment by their universities from companies connected to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, disclosure of those and other investments, and a recognition of the continuing right to protest without punishment.

The demonstrations spread overseas as well, with students on campuses in Cairo, Paris and Sydney gathering to voice support for Palestinians and opposition to the war.

As new protests were emerging, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson visited the Columbia campus in New York, where university officials were seeking to negotiate with protest leaders to end the encampment of around 80 tents still pitched on a central campus lawn.

Mr Johnson said Professor Nemat Shafik, the school’s president, should resign if she could not immediately get the situation under control, calling her an “inept leader” who had failed to guarantee the safety of Jewish students.