US police arrested nearly 300 protesters during their storming of Columbia University in New York on Tuesday night to break up a sit-in rejecting the war on Gaza, according to the mayor, while police were deployed at the University of California in Los Angeles to break up clashes that occurred after supporters of Israel attacked a sit-in of pro-Palestinian protesters on the university campus.New York Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference on Wednesday: "We arrested about 300 people at Columbia University and tried to distinguish students from others who are not supposed to be there,"he said."Those who came from outside the University want to spread chaos, not peaceful protest, and we have seen how they threw bottles and garbage at the police,"Adams added. But he did not provide evidence that people from outside the University were leading the protests."We cannot allow the demonstrations to turn into chaos and there is no place for anti-Semitism and hatred in our city,"he said.The protesters demonstrated in front of the University on Wednesday to denounce the dispersal of the sit-in, and held up banners saying: "Shame on Shafiq," referring to the University's President, Nemat Shafiq, and another saying "No to the police inside the campus".In total, the US police have arrested more than 1,300 people since the beginning of the movement of American university students to reject the genocide in Gaza and solidarity with the Palestinian people, according to the Washington Post.According to us Press reports, the arrests have taken place on more than 25 campuses in 21 US states since April 18.The spark of this student movement began at dozens of universities and institutes inside the United States and abroad about two weeks ago when the president of Columbia University for the first time requested police intervention to end protests against the war on Gaza.Fan violence In the city of Los Angeles, Police have been deployed in large numbers on the campus of the University of California since this morning after supporters of the Israeli occupation attacked a sit-in of war refuseniks.Reuters said it had verified the authenticity of video recordings taken by some witnesses showing these assailants waving batons and attacking wooden barriers set up to protect the anti-war sit-ins.She added that the recordings show these aggressors -many of them masked, some apparently older than the students- They throw objects at the sit-ins and try to break down the barriers protecting the sit-in.A student participating in the sit-in, Sofia Sandino, told Reuters: "We found people spraying us with pepper spray, beating us with batons and sticks, throwing at us everything we could carry, and law enforcement was not there at all. So to be seen as the culprits is a bit frustrating,"he said.This attack lasted almost 3 hours amid the complete absence of the city police, despite being called from the first moments. The sit-in was previously subjected to provocations and attacks by supporters of Israel, especially at night.The university administration informed the demonstrators on Tuesday that the sit-in was illegal and violated the University's policy. University Chancellor Gene Brock said that among the demonstrators were people "who are not affiliated with our campus," but he did not provide any evidence of this.For its part, the Los Angeles Police announced that it had brought the situation at the picket camp under control. It created a separation zone and pushed the supporters of Israel away from the sit-in and allowed the restoration of the barriers that surrounded the sit-in.
🛑 هكذا هجم الصهاينة على الطلبة في كاليفورنيا ولم تمنعهم الشرطة .
— Abbass Moussawi (@abbassMswi1) May 1, 2024
" بلد الحريات 🥴 " #الطلاب_تنتفض#طلاب_امريكا_مع_المظلومين pic.twitter.com/8Egk0SU5kB
Confrontations and trials
on the other hand, confrontations broke out between a number of students and police forces at the American University of Wisconsin-Madison after the removal of the sit-in tents from the university campus. The police arrested a number of protesters.At the University of Portland, dozens of students and activists have been holed up in the university library since Monday, refusing to leave, according to the New York Times.In Boston, Al Jazeera reported that the president of the Massachusetts Institute of technology will meet today with a delegation representing the protesting students after the failure of previous negotiations to end the protests.Today, dozens of students are appearing before the Roxbury court in Boston after they were arrested during the dispersal of the sit-ins, on charges including trespassing and violating student and university conduct rules.The Al Jazeera reporter spotted dozens of students in court appearing in batches with volunteer lawyers to get a decision to release them To be able to continue their studies.Meanwhile, the White House said that President Joe Biden is constantly being kept informed about the university protests and is closely monitoring the situation
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