NEW YORK, United States: Authorities on Monday began suspending student demonstrators who defied an ultimatum to disperse and end the Gaza camps at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses.
The authorities at the prestigious university in New York warned that the protest encampment be cleared by 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) or students would face disciplinary action.
“These repulsive scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians,” a statement read out by a student at a press conference after the deadline, said.
The student, who would not give his name, said they will not move until Columbia meets their demands or they are moved by force.
Hours later, Columbia University’s vice president for of communications Ben Chang said the university has begun suspending students as part of the next phase of their “efforts to ensure campus safety”.
He said students were warned they would be “suspended, unable to complete a semester or graduate, and all academic, residential and recreational spaces are restricted.”
Meanwhile, police at the University of Texas at Austin clashed with demonstrators and made arrests while clearing a camp, bringing the number of people arrested nationwide to more than 350 over the weekend.
“No encampments will be allowed,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on social media Monday afternoon.
“Instead, arrests are being made.”
Demonstrations against the Gaza war, which has left a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians, have posed a challenge for university administrators trying to balance the right to free speech with complaints that the rallies have turned into anti-Semitism and hatred.
A wave of protests against Israel’s war in Gaza has swept US college campuses from coast to coast for nearly two weeks since the arrest of about 100 protesters in Columbia on April 18.
Footage of police in riot gear entering campuses to break up rallies is reminiscent of protests that began during the Vietnam War and has been seen around the world.
Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, announced the failure of the talks in a statement on Monday and said many Jewish students and other students also find the atmosphere of recent weeks intolerable.
“Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy,” Shafik said.
Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism, insisting that some incidents have been engineered by non-student agitators.
