Police detain pro-Palestinian protesters at universities in Boston and Arizona | World and Science

Around 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were briefly detained this Saturday morning (27) on a Boston campus, and another 69 in the state of Arizona in the most recent episodes of a student movement spreading across the United States.

Started last week at Columbia University in New York, these new protests in support of the Palestinians and against the war that Israel is carrying out in the Gaza Strip were held on several American campuses, from California (west) to New England (northeast), passing through the south of the country.

In Boston, “approximately one hundred people were detained by police,” authorities at Northeastern University reported on the X network.

“Students who presented their Northeastern University identification document were released (…) Those who refused to prove their affiliation were detained,” the establishment added.

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— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) April 27, 2024

The university later reported that the area of ​​the campus where the protests were held “was completely safe” at 11:30 a.m. local time (12:30 p.m. Brasília), “and all campus operations have returned to normal.”

At Arizona State University (ASU), in the south, law enforcement “detained 69 people after the installation of an unauthorized camp”, the educational center said in a note, in which it indicated that the “majority were not students or member of the ASU staff.”

These people will be “charged with illegal intrusion”, he added.

In the center of the country, police announced the arrest of 23 people at Indiana University during the evacuation of a protester camp. In recent days, police have carried out mass arrests at universities, using tear gas and taser pistols to disperse protesters.

‘Infiltrator’

Students detained on campus will be subject to “disciplinary procedures” but “not legal measures,” according to the university’s statement.

The president of Columbia University, the epicenter of the movement, announced that it had given up calling on the New York Police (NYPD) to empty the camp installed on its campus so as to “not further inflame the situation.”

However, he stated that one of the movement’s leaders, Khymani James, was banned from entering the university grounds.

In a video released in January, James said “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” The young man then apologized.

“Chanting, posters, taunts and social media posts by our own students threatening to ‘kill’ Jews are completely unacceptable. Columbia students involved in such incidents will be held accountable,” the university said.

Other campuses

In California, Humboldt Polytechnic University announced that it would close its campus until the end of the semester, and that work will continue remotely after several attempts this week to “break into multiple buildings.”

At the University of Pennsylvania, its president ordered a camp dissolved after saying there was “credible information of harassing and intimidating conduct.”

This Saturday, Canada experienced its first pro-Palestinian protest at MacGill University in Montreal, where protesters set up a camp. The education center said camps were not permitted as they “increase the potential for escalation and confrontation.”

On October 7, Palestinian militants attacked Israel, killing 1,170 people, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures. They also took around 250 people hostage. Israel estimates that 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are believed to have died.

In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has left at least 34,356 people dead, most of them women and children, according to the Palestinian territory’s Ministry of Health.