A wave of anti-war demonstrations has swept through several prominent universities in the United States, with students at Columbia, Yale, Michigan, Humboldt, New York, and Berkeley leading the charge.
The ongoing struggle against the war in Gaza has escalated tensions between student activists and university administrations, who are resorting to strict security measures to quell the protests before they escalate further.
At Columbia University, student protesters were issued an ultimatum by the administration to halt their demonstrations, but dozens remained defiantly occupying two campus buildings in Northern California.
The core demand of the protesters is for their universities to sever economic ties with Israel and divest from companies implicated in or supporting the prolonged conflict in Gaza. The confrontations have led to numerous arrests, with Columbia President Minouche Shafik imposing a deadline for negotiations which ultimately passed without resolution.
Protests have spread across the country, with students at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt resorting to barricading entrances with furniture and chains, leading to clashes with law enforcement and multiple arrests.
Similar scenes unfolded at New York University and Yale, where scores of protesters were arrested after setting up camp on campus grounds, refusing to disperse. In Michigan, a demonstration saw nearly 40 tents erected, resulting in the arrest of nine protesters, while in Minnesota, hundreds rallied in solidarity.
Harvard University attempted to preempt potential protests by imposing strict access controls and warning against unauthorised gatherings, while at the University of California, Berkeley, students set up tents in emulation of their counterparts at Columbia, declaring them as the "heart of the student movement."
(Source: Efsyn)