Sit-ins continue at Columbia University

New York – Tensions continue to escalate following pro-Palestinian students entered the historic Hamilton Hall building at Columbia University in New York, USA.

The students made barriers of tables and chairs in front of the entrance and windows of the building following the university administration announced the imposition of disciplinary penalties on the students who refused to vacate the site of the sit-in in solidarity with Palestine on the university campus.

Following these events, the university administration imposed severe restrictions on entry to the campus, keeping one entrance open for staff and students residing in student housing.

Through posts on social media, the students requested “support until their demands are met.”

A banner was raised from the window of the building overlooking Amsterdam Street, with the words “Free Palestine” written in both English and Arabic.

This development comes as students at several American universities continue their protests once morest the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip for more than half a year.

On April 18, students who rejected the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip began a sit-in on the campus of Columbia University in New York, demanding that its administration stop its academic cooperation with Israeli universities and withdraw its investments in companies that support the occupation of Palestinian territories.

With the intervention of police forces and the arrest of dozens of students, the state of anger expanded and the demonstrations extended to dozens of universities in the United States, including leading universities such as Harvard, George Washington, New York, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and North Carolina.

Later, the unprecedented student movement in support of Palestine in the United States expanded to universities in countries such as France, Britain, Germany, Canada and India, all of which witnessed demonstrations in support of their counterparts in American universities and demands to stop the war on Gaza and boycott the companies that supply weapons to Israel.

Agencies