Thousands of students in the US continue to launch protests and set up camps against the US and Israeli genocide in Gaza starting in the second week of April. This new series is the latest in protests by the American people since last year. These protests included many Jewish students and organizations.

Protesters set up camps on major campuses to call for the withdrawal of their respective universities from all investment and ties to the Zionist regime in Israel and the arms companies which supplies its weapons. Many universities work closely with the US military-industrial complex, and are thus implicated in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

In response, hundreds were dispersed by the police and ordered arrested by the administrations of said universities. Many students were kicked out of their dormitories, suspended or outright expelled from their colleges.

Among those dispersed was the protest by the students of Columbia University on April 25. The administration broke up the peaceful protest inside the campus which resulted in the arrest of 100 students. Many sectors have condemned the violence and sanctions against students that they say are against academic freedom and due process.

Similar actions and camp-outs were held by students at the University of New York, University of Illinois-Chicago, Howard University, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Colorado Denver and University of Texas-Austin.

As in Columbia, violent dispersals and mass arrests met the protests at Emory University, University of Southern California, University of Texas and Emerson College. Professors and other sectors of the university condemned the police raid on the campus which they say violates the rights of the students. These crackdowns needlessly put students and teachers in danger, they said.

Despite the violence and threats of suspension and expulsion, students at Harvard University and Brown University set up their camps.

The protests and camp-outs are spreading to universities in other parts of the world. Similar protests are already being held at major universities in Australia, France, Italy, Poland and Britain.