Police intervention and arrests increased tension. On April 18, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik called the New York Police Department to intervene in the protest. Riot police arrested more than 100 students. On Monday (22), members of the institution’s faculty staged a walkout in solidarity with the students and criticized Columbia’s administration. The university announced that classes would take place in a hybrid model for the remainder of the academic year — the last day of classes is April 29.
Other universities have since joined the protest movement in support of Columbia students. Demonstrations took place yesterday at USC (University of Southern California) and the University of Texas, where dozens of police officers, many in riot gear and on horses, blocked the protesters’ path. At least 34 people were arrested after refusing to disperse.
Some of the universities involved in the acts are part of the Ivy League, the most prestigious in the USA. In addition to Columbia, Brown, Harvard and Yale, where 47 people were arrested, joined the demonstrations. NYU (New York University), MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the universities of Michigan and Berkeley, California, joined the group.
Demonstrations also spread abroad. Students on campuses in Cairo (Egypt), Paris (France) and Sydney (Australia) gathered to express support for the Palestinians and opposition to the war.
Accusations of anti-Semitism and reports of insecurity
Accusations of anti-Semitism and expressions of support for Hamas also permeate the protests, universities say. The NYU administration said it heard “intimidating chants and several anti-Semitic incidents” at protests on its campus. Shafik reported that anti-Semitic abuse also occurred on the Columbia campus. The coalition of student groups organizing the Columbia protests rejected accusations of anti-Semitism against the protests in its entirety, saying a few individuals tried to distort the cause and behaved in unacceptable ways.
