THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS and faculty at several major campuses in the US launched a new series of protests to push universities to withdraw their support and investment in Zionist Israel. Many universities work closely with the US military industry, and are thus complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

On orders of the Biden government, police entered the universities and violently broke up protests.

The encampment set up by students and faculty at Columbia University in New York on April 25 was most prominent. Police violently dismantled the camp arresting and charging many students.

In addition to the one in Columbia University, significant mass actions were also carried out in 18 other large universities in different parts of the US from April to the present. These were broken up by police with violence, violating students’ rights and endangering the lives and welfare of students and teachers.

Protests and camp-outs have spread to universities in other parts of the world. Similar protests were held at major universities in Australia, France, Italy, Poland and Britain. As in the US, students are demanding that universities cut financial ties with Israel, which they consider as support for its genocide in Gaza.

As of May 2, at least 35,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Zionist forces in its relentless bombing and attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023. A large number of them are children (14,500) and women (8,400).