Anti-Israel protesters at Harvard University in the US raised the Palestinian flag over the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard, a spot which is reserved for the American flag, as demonstrations against the Gaza War continue to grip universities across the country. The number of arrests nationwide has approached 900 since the April 18 mass arrests at New York’s Columbia University.
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The incident at Harvard University on Saturday came as pro-Palestine protesters have refused to end their ongoing agitation at the Ivy League school’s campus.
A Harvard spokesperson termed the incident “a violation of university policy”, adding that the “individuals involved will be subject to disciplinary action”.
On Saturday alone, some 275 people were arrested at various campuses, including Indiana University at Bloomington, Arizona State University and Washington University in St. Louis.
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Here are the latest developments:
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The Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper, said that three Palestinian flags were raised at the campus on Saturday evening. As Harvard Yard Operations staff removed the flags, protesters shouted “Shame!” and chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
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The University of California, Los Angeles on Sunday witnessed skirmishes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Reuters news agency said demonstrators broke through a barrier that the school had set up to separate the two factions.
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Protests continued on Sunday at George Washington University’s campus in Washington, DC, where students erected dozens of tents in a park and the adjacent street, CNN reported. Demonstrators, with some wearing traditional keffiyeh and waving Palestinian flags, chanted “Free Palestine.
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At a refugee camp in southern Gaza’s Rafah, Palestinian students staged a display of solidarity to express gratitude for the support seen on US college campuses, CNN reported. The students held banners that said “Students of Columbia University, continue to stand by us”.
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Vandalisation of campus property was reported at the University of Southern California. The university said it was carried out “by individuals who are part of the group that has continued to illegally camp on our campus”.
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On the ongoing protests, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden “knows that there are very strong feelings” but would leave managing the protests to local authorities.
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In a message on Sunday, the Tufts University’s Medford-Somerville campus in Massachusetts said the encampment protest “must end ideally peacefully and voluntarily” in an effort to “celebrate the class of 2024 at Commencement without disruptions”.
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In a statement, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluthsaid talks negotiations between student protesters and administrators to end the protests came to a stalemate when “students made clear on social media that they will not accept anything less than their original demands”.
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Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian encampment has continued for two weeks now after negotiations between protesting students and the administration were at an impasse. There were no arrests over the weeked.
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In an interview on Sunday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the nationwide protests “a dangerous situation”. “There’s also antisemitism, which is completely unacceptable. I’ve been shocked to see that in this country,” he told NBC News.
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