RAMALLAH, Sunday, May 5, 2024 (WAFA) - Student-led protests condemning the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and demanding divestment from the Israeli occupation have swept across multiple countries.
From the United States to Switzerland, university campuses have become focal points of activism, with students demanding an end to the bloodshed and accountability for Israeli atrocities.
United States
Demonstrators have gathered on at least 40 U.S. university campuses since April 17, often erecting encampments to protest against the Israeli war crimes in the Gaza and demand divestment from Israel and companies profiteering off Palestinian suffering.
Nearly 2,000 people have been detained, according to U.S. media. In recent days, police have forcibly dismantled several student encampments, including one at New York University at the request of its administrators.
Demonstrators barricaded inside Columbia University, the epicenter in New York of the student protests, complained of police brutality when officers cleared the faculty.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, hundreds of police emptied a camp, tearing down barriers and detaining more than 200 protesters.
Dozens of police in riot gear used chemical sprays to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Virginia, student paper The Cavalier Daily reported.
Brown University in Rhode Island reached an agreement with students to remove their camp from the grounds in exchange for it considering divesting from "companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza."
France
Police have forcibly evacuated protesters from a pro-Gaza sit-in at Sciences Po in Paris, the country's top political science school. Officials said 91 people were arrested.
Sciences Po interim administrator Jean Basseres rejected a student demand to examine the institution's links with Israeli universities.
At Paris-Dauphine University, administrators banned a conference involving Rima Hassan, a Franco-Palestinian expert in international law who has been vocal in condemning genocide in Gaza.
The ban, introduced on the grounds there was a risk of public disorder, has been overturned by the judicial authorities.
Germany
Police intervened on Friday to evacuate protesters outside Humboldt University in central Berlin.
A number of demonstrators were "forcibly" removed after refusing to decamp to another location, police said.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner criticized the protest, saying on X, formerly Twitter, that the city didn't want to see events like those in the U.S. or France.
Canada
Students have protested against the genocide in Gaza in several cities, including Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
Hundreds of demonstrators have joined the first and largest camp, at Montreal's McGill University, in the face of threats of a police clearance.
They have vowed to remain there until McGill cuts all financial and academic ties with Israel.
Australia
At Sydney University, pro-Palestine demonstrators have been camped for 10 days on a green lawn in front of the university. They want it to cut ties with Israeli institutions and reject funding from arms companies.
Ireland
Students at Trinity College Dublin University began a sit-in on Friday, describing the protest as a "solidarity encampment with Palestine."
Mexico
Dozens of students from the country's largest university, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), have set up a camp in the capital, chanting "Free Palestine" and other slogans calling for justice for the Palestinian people.
They want the Mexican government to sever all ties with Israel.
Switzerland
About 100 students have since Thursday been occupying the entrance of a building at Lausanne University, calling for an academic boycott of Israel and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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