Pro-Palestinian Protests Escalate on US Campuses
Police Crackdown at Emory University
The police used tasers and chemical irritants to control the protesters and arrested dozens amid massively spreading campus protests. Massive pro-Palestinian protests embroiled more universities in the United States on Thursday, forcing the police to adopt more severe measures to take things under control.
At one of the universities, the riot officers had to resort to tasers and chemical irritants to control the protesters as some of the most prestigious institutions were forced to battle it out to prevent occupations from taking hold.
Multiple violent arrests were made by the police officials at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia. This was the first such police crackdown on protesters in recent days, which involved the firing of teargas and rubber bullets after multiple encampments were established by the students to express their solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City.
Police were seen wielding tasers and wrestling with protesters at Emory University. Zip-ties were used by officers wearing gas masks to detain people, reported the college’s Emory Wheel news website.
Emory University released a statement stating that outside protesters had been joined by “members of the Emory community” and that the group was “disrupting the university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals”.
The university confirmed that Atlanta Police arrested several dozens and refuted using rubber bullets against protesters. The Atlanta Police Department (APD) further confirmed that the college had asked for help in “securing the campus”.
Protests Spread Across US Campuses
Demonstrations and new sit-ins were organized across college campuses in the United States as activists appealed for a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas and continued demanding colleges sever ties with the country and with companies which have been profiting from the conflict.
“For 201 days, the world has watched in silence as Israel has murdered over 30,000 Palestinians,” read a message, which was shared by organizers of a new protest at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The police arrested more than 200 protesters on Wednesday and early Thursday at universities in Boston and Austin, Texas and Los Angeles.
Trump’s Response to Protests
Condemning the pro-Palestinian protests across US colleges, former president Donald Trump on Thursday said that the level of “hate” on display is much worse in comparison to the deadly rally by right-wing extremists in Charlottesville in 2017.
“We’re having protests all over. Charlottesville was a little peanut, and it was nothing compared — and the hate wasn’t the kind of hate that you have here, this is tremendous hate,” Trump said.
