As anti-Israel protests against the Gaza war engulfed American universities, protesters at Harvard University raised the Palestinian flag at the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Yard, designated for the American flag.
Since the April 18 mass arrest at New York’s Columbia University, nearly 900 arrests have been made nationwide.
Saturday’s incident at Harvard University came as pro-Palestinian protesters refused to stop the agitation taking place on campus by the Ivy League.
According to the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper, three Palestinian flags were flown on campus on Saturday night. Protesters shouted “Shame!” they shouted. “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were chanted as Operation Harvard Yard staff lowered the flag.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed at the University of California, Los Angeles on Sunday. According to Reuters, the protesters tore down a barrier erected by the school to separate the two groups.
Students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., set up dozens of tents in a park and on nearby streets as part of a protest that took place Sunday, CNN reported. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, some wore traditional kefir and chanted “Free Palestine”.
According to CNN, Palestinian students held a solidarity demonstration in the refugee camp in Rafah, south of Gaza. The students chanted, “Stay with us, Columbia University students.”
According to the university, this was done by “group members who continue to camp illegally on our campus.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that while he knows there are “very strong feelings” from President Joe Biden about the ongoing protests, local authorities will be responsible for the protests.
Tufts University’s Medford-Somerville campus in Massachusetts said in a statement Sunday that the protest camp “must end peacefully and voluntarily” in order to “celebrate the Class of 2024 without disruption.”
“Students have made it clear through social media that they will not accept anything less than their original demands,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement.
Pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University have continued for the past two weeks as talks between the administration and student protesters have broken down. No arrests were made last weekend.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the nationwide protests a “dangerous situation” in an interview on Sunday. “There is also anti-Semitism, which is unacceptable. “I am shocked to see this in this country,” he said.
