Columbia University protesters occupy a campus building in honor of a girl killed in Gaza
New York (USA) // According to the pro-Palestine student movement, Columbia University’s main administrative building, Hamilton Hall, is now Hinds Hall. they changed its name In honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who was murdered by Israeli forces in Gaza. Leaning on the balcony of the building, a group of students, all with their faces covered, launched a huge banner with the new name, while hundreds of protesters chanted “Free Palestine”. “The building has now been liberated,” shouted a student with a megaphone in his hand.
After camping on the university campus for thirteen days and making no progress in talks with the Rector’s office, the student movement has decided to take a stand and Occupy one of the main buildings on campus. They do this, they say, to continue “the campus’ legacy of opposing collusion” in honor of the 1968 protests. Then, in the midst of the Vietnam War, students occupied several buildings, bringing activities at the university to a halt. The police detained hundreds of students, but the Rectorate agreed to many of their demands.
He Thirteenth day of protests in ColombiaThe focus of the student mobilization against the genocide in Gaza has begun with a breakdown in talks. The university has not accepted the demands of the studentsIs, It calls for cutting ties with any company or individual directly or indirectly related to the Israeli occupation., And an apology to all the students involved in the protests. Instead, the Rectorate has threatened students attending the camp with expulsion from the university if they do not leave voluntarily.
The Columbia camp in New York and the university’s response, which allowed police to enter the campus to arrest hundreds of students on April 18, have inspired protests at dozens of universities in the United States. This is the largest mobilization in Gaza since the war beganin early October, and is being led by students from some of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country.
On the morning of Monday, April 29, administration staff were standing at the gate of the camp handing out forms to the participants. In the document, they were invited to leave the Esplanade before two in the afternoon and sign a paper committing them to follow Colombia’s regulations, which included giving at least two days’ notice for any protests. The university is preparing for graduation, which will take place on May 15, but the camp has been stalling work on erecting stands for the past two weeks. “It is important for you to know that the University has already identified several students who participated in the camp,” the document said. “If you don’t leave before two o’clock in the afternoon you will be expelled.”
Students have reacted by throwing the papers in the trash, burning them, or writing in red paint, “Genocide,” “Being expelled by Gaza is the greatest honor,” or “Shame on you, Colombia.” Gathered in the center of the Esplanade, where they have been sleeping for thirteen days, the students Voted by show of hands not to come under pressure from the university And will continue the protest until their demands are met. Not only did he not leave the camp before two o’clock in the afternoon, but he also gathered hundreds of students and teachers, who came to support him within minutes, filling the campus with Palestinian flags and scarves. Teachers wearing fluorescent jackets have formed a human barrier for hours at the entrance of the protest site to protect the protesters.
Meanwhile, organizers were already planning the next steps: Increase in protests. Everything was arranged in detail for the midnight start, students gathered in small groups, ready to go. As the clock struck twelve, one group began moving tents to another grassy area, and set up another camp. Other groups began fully coordinated marches around campus.
Whereas in reality it was all a strategy to divert attention The organizers’ radicals occupied a building on the campus., one of those that had already been occupied by the student movement in the protests of the late sixties. “We will stay here until Colombia meets our demands,” organizers said in a statement. ,Reclaiming our premises is the only possible response to an institution that does not follow ethical mandates, Taking over a building is a small risk compared to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
Students have vandalized the building, locking the doors and setting up barricades with campus furniture: benches, chairs, trash cans, which they have tied together with plastic ties, the same ones that the police used to protect students. Used to tie on the wrist. Had arrested him on 18th April last. The protesters, forming a chain with arms, sat in rows on the ground, guarding the entrances to the building. Immediately, organizers covered the windows from the inside with newspaper and hung a large long banner that read “Intifada.” The students went to the balcony to cheer on the protest, causing the rest of the crowd to also cheer. “This building honors Hind and all murdered Palestinians. We will honor all those killed, All mothers, fathers, sons and daughters,” said one of the organizers. He stressed, “We are not going to leave until Colombia meets all our demands.”
One of the symbols of the university, the statue that presides over the campus, the Alma Mater, now has a Palestinian scarf tied around its neck and a small Palestinian flag in its hand.