University students set up encampments in Australia, Mexico, Canada and France
Hundreds of people protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza rallied at one of Australia’s top universities yesterday, demanding it divest from companies with ties to Israel, in a movement inspired by the student occupations sweeping Untied States campuses.
Pro-Palestinian activists set up an encampment last week outside the main hall at University of Sydney, one of Australia’s largest tertiary institutions.
Similar camps have sprung up at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities.
Unlike in the US, where police have forcibly removed scores of defiant pro-Palestinian protesters at several colleges, protest sites in Australia have been peaceful with scant police presence.
Yesterday, protesters rallied to demand University of Sydney divest from companies with ties to Israel, echoing calls from students in the US, Canada and France.
Standing in the chanting crowd of more than 300 with his 2-year old son on his shoulders, Matt, 39, said he came to show it was not just students angry at Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“Once you understand what is going on, you have a responsibility to try and get involved and raise awareness and show solidarity.”
Long an ally of Israel, Australia has become increasingly critical of its conduct in Gaza, where an Australian aid worker was killed in an Israeli attack last month.
Pro-Palestinian protesters said the government had not done enough to push for peace and led the crowd in chants against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government.
In Mexico, dozens of pro-Palestinian students from the country’s largest university camped out on Thursday in solidarity with similar protests that have swept colleges in the US.
Mounting flags and chanting “Long live free Palestine”, the protesters set up tents in front of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) head office in Mexico City.
The students called on the government to break diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel.
“We are here to support Palestine, the people who are in Palestine and the student camps in the United States,” said philosophy student Valentino Pino, 19.
Jimena Rosas, 21, said she hoped the protest would have a domino effect and spread to other universities in the country.
“Once people see that UNAM is beginning to mobilise, other universities should start as well.”
In Canada, Quebec Premier Francois Legault said on Thursday the encampment at Montreal’s McGill University should be dismantled as more students erected pro-Palestinian camps across some of the country’s largest universities, demanding they divest from groups with ties to Israel.
While McGill had requested police intervention, law enforcement had not stepped in on Thursday to clear the encampment.
Students also set up encampments the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia and University of Ottawa.
On Thursday morning, University of Toronto students set up an encampment in a fenced-off grassy space at a downtown campus where some 100 protesters gathered with dozens of tents.
Organisers said the encampment would stay until the university disclosed its investments, divested from any that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine” and ended partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.
In France, police entered the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris yesterday and removed student activists who had occupied its buildings in protest against Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza.
A Reuters witness saw police go into the buildings and take out many of the 70-odd protesters.
Sciences Po has become the epicentre of student protests over the war and academic ties with Israel.
The university was closed yesterday, with a heavy police presence around its main building.
Jack, a student who declined to give his surname, said he was one of around 70 students who spent Thursday night occupying one of the university’s main buildings.
He said protesters had declined an ultimatum by university officials to clear the building and go to a determined smaller area.