فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
Student protests at Columbia University against the escalating Israeli aggression on Gaza continued as a group of students took control of two buildings on campus and closed them late last night.
This escalation comes after about 10 days of sit-ins on campus grounds and after negotiations between students and the university administration failed.
According to statements made by students to Al Jazeera, they are an independent group not directly affiliated with the main protest camp, and one of the organizers of the building takeover, who declined to reveal their identity, clarified that this move was in response to “Columbia University’s arbitrary actions towards peaceful demonstrations in recent weeks,” also emphasizing that it comes amid the university’s refusal to meet all the protesters’ demands, including divestment from Israel and amnesty for all students and professors penalized by the university administration.
Students expressed their frustration with the continuous threats by the university administration to deploy the National Guard and New York Police to disperse the peaceful protests, considering it as evidence of the administration’s ill intentions.
The spokesperson confirmed that this action, supported by a group of university professors as well as students, aims to disrupt normal life on campus, further explaining that the choice of location was not random but deliberate, as one of the buildings was seized by students in 1968 during protests against the Vietnam War.
Earlier, Columbia University announced the suspension of several students who did not comply with a deadline set yesterday to evacuate the protest site.
The university president, Nemat Minouche Shafik, issued a statement yesterday confirming the failure of negotiations with the protesting students and stating that the university will not divest its investments from Israel.
Columbia University in New York is considered the starting point for pro-Palestinian protests before spreading widely across US universities.
Source: Fes News Media
