The Australian / The Times | Alistair Dawber | 30 April 2024
Well done students – Mark
Student-led protests against the Gaza war spread across more American universities this weekend as the growing wave of dissent that has led to hundreds of arrests threatens to undermine President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
More than 250 people were detained by police on Saturday at Washington University in St Louis, Northeastern University in Boston, and at Arizona and Indiana state universities, as riot police moved in to break up protests.
It brings the total to more than 700 arrests since April 18 when New York police first tried to clear a protest camp at Columbia University, setting off similar scenes in California and Texas.
The focus of the protests has been US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, given concerns about the growing death toll and the worsening humanitarian crisis.
The White House acknowledges that Israel has been too slow to allow aid into the territory.
At the same time, many of the protesters are accused of being nakedly anti-Semitic and of intimidating Jewish students and staff. Access to buildings has been blocked at Ivy League and state universities, and there were calls for senior staff to step down.
Mr Biden did not mention the unrest, or the war in Gaza, in his 10-minute speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, despite the event being targeted by protesters. Journalists and celebrities attending the black-tie dinner had to walk past hundreds of protesters who chanted “Shame on you” as they arrived at the Hilton hotel in Washington.
Palestinian journalists had called on media groups to boycott the event. “Western media we see you, and all the horrors that you hide,” the crowds chanted.
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