The student movement protesting Israel's war on Gaza has by now spread across the U.S. and Europe. It was sparked on 17 April at Columbia University in New York, when students set up tents in the middle of campus, demanding that their universities sever ties with Israeli institutions and companies providing military support to Israel. As of 6 May, protests have taken root at 140 campuses in 45 of 50 U.S. states (and D.C.)
While the protests have generally been peaceful, more than 2,000 students in the U.S. have been arrested in the last month, and police action against students and participating faculty has often been brutal. Some of the worst police and counter-protestor violence was seen at Columbia, UCLA, Emory, City University of NY and the University of Texas at Austin. Other universities, including Northwestern and Brown, negotiated with student protestors and reached a resolution that served the interests of both the schools and the students.
Protests have also hit campuses in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Australia and Austria, among many others in cities in Europe and around the world. As university semesters come to a close, it remains to be seen where the protests will move and how they will develop.
