Worldwide protests: University campuses echo with support for Palestine

Report by Yara Dargham, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians have erupted on university campuses globally, resulting in the arrest of over 200 individuals thus far. From the United States to Europe and beyond, these protests have ignited debate and sometimes escalated into violence.

Since April 17, university campuses have become focal points for protests and encampments. 

However, in some institutions, administrations have resorted to using force to suppress demonstrators, leading to clashes.

Even professors have not been immune to violence. Some who voiced support for the protests have been dismissed from their positions, as recounted by Professor Danny Shaw to LBCI.

In the latest developments, French police forcefully entered the premises of Sciences Po University in Paris, one of Europe's leading institutions in political science, to evict protesters. Despite the university's closure, demonstrators, including hunger strikers, remained at its entrances.

The French government has vowed to address the situation firmly, echoing sentiments shared in Switzerland, where approximately 100 pro-Palestinian students occupied a hall at the University of Lausanne, calling for academic boycotts of Israeli institutions and an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Protests have also flared in Germany. At Humboldt University in Berlin, students staged sit-ins at its entrances, chanting, "Free Palestine, Germany is a fascist state."

In Australia, hundreds of demonstrators marched within the precincts of the University of Sydney, where security guards separated pro-Palestinian supporters from those backing Israel.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, dozens of students and activists erected tents outside the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the country's largest university, in solidarity with Gaza and in support of fellow protesters in the United States.