Gaza protests stirred universities... Police intervened against students
Tensions are growing in the Gaza protests that started at Columbia University in the US and spread to many universities in different states of the country. 
The protests in support of Palestine, which started at Columbia University and spread to major universities such as New York University (NYU), New School, Stanford, Yale, MIT and Texas, continue to grow.
In the US, a group of students from the University of Maryland, half an hour away from the capital Washington, started a protest in the garden of the university campus in response to Israel's attacks on Gaza. The group of more than a hundred students, including students of different religions and ethnicities, chanted slogans for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The students' common emphasis was to support their friends who participated in the university protests that began at Columbia and spread, to protest against Israel and the US administration for supporting it, and to demand that their schools cut ties with companies that sell arms to Israel. 
"STOP BOMBING GAZA"
Brandy Kaplan, a third-year Jewish American student at the University of Maryland and vice-president of the student organization "Jewish Voice for Peace," said that their goal was to draw attention to the massacres in Gaza.
Kaplan said that this is how they joined the demonstrations in support of Gaza that started at Columbia University, and emphasized that another goal was to call for the university to cut ties with the companies that the university works with and that produce weapons for Israel. Kaplan said, "We don't need to be pushed into a corner and kill people to be safe. I believe that the peoples of the world, especially Palestine, can be liberated in a few steps and the first step is a permanent ceasefire. Therefore, first a permanent ceasefire, then an end to the violent military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and then a single state ruled by the Palestinian people." 
Ahlam, an Arab American student in the Department of Public Health, who took an active role in the Palestinian demonstrations at the university, said that the main purpose of their protests was solidarity with the people of Gaza. Explaining that the University of Maryland works in partnership with many military companies and that these companies sell weapons to Israel, Ahlam said, "If Biden continues to finance and support this, he will not win the elections in November. This is why we have seen big riots in the US. Many people are rightfully angry with Biden." 
Noting that the student protests at American universities have nothing to do with anti-Semitism, Ahlam said, "This protest is definitely not anti-Semitic. We have Jewish student friends here who are participating in the protests with us. They are carrying banners saying Jews for a free Palestine. None of us are free until all of us are free and the call for the liberation of Palestine in no way implies the destruction of the Jewish people."
PRESIDENT OF US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CALLS FOR RECTOR'S RESIGNATION
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson visited Jewish students at Columbia University and called for the president's resignation if he failed to stop protests by pro-Palestinian students on campus. Johnson held a press conference at Columbia University as tensions continue between pro-Palestinian students and the university administration. 
During the press conference, which was frequently interrupted by boos from students, Johnson called the demonstrations in support of Palestine on campus "hate and anti-Semitism" and called for the resignation of the University's rector, Nemat Minouche Shafik, if he failed to end the protests. 
Johnson argued that students who did not stop the protests should be intervened and detained, and suggested that President Joe Biden should use his authority to call in the National Guard if the protests on campus were not under control. 
Pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University staged a sit-in on the campus lawn to protest the school's continued financial investments in companies that support the occupation of Palestine and the genocide in Gaza. Rector Minouche Shafik argued that the demonstration posed a threat to the functioning of the university and asked the New York police to help disperse the protesters.
Police entered the campus and intervened in the sit-in, detaining 108 students, and the school administration suspended around 80 students involved in the protest.
Chancellor Shafik's action brought back to the agenda the debates about the restrictions on freedom of expression that began against pro-Palestinian students at US universities after October 7, 2023.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University spread to other leading US universities, including New York University (NYU), Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tufts University, The New School and the University of North Carolina.
POLICE INTERVENTION AGAINST PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATORS
At the University of Southern California, which joined the Gaza protests that began at Columbia University, police intervened against students protesting against Israel and detained several students. The University of Southern California, one of the leading universities in the US, was the scene of Gaza demonstrations and police intervention against students throughout the day.
During the day, police did not allow students to set up tents in certain areas of the campus, but in the evening they began to warn the demonstrators to disperse. Police officers, who were joined by the Los Angeles police, detained a group of students who were still demonstrating in the evening. 
In the evening, police closed the main campus of the university to the public and took extensive security measures. At noon, some students wanted to set up tents in a section where demonstrators were concentrated, but the university administration did not allow them to do so, and the police intervened harshly afterwards.
17 STUDENTS DETAINED IN TEXAS
Around 200 students protesting Israel's attacks on Gaza and its actions against Palestinian civilians gathered at the University of Texas at Austin campus at noon yesterday, and police initially detained 17 people they claimed were leading the group. Meanwhile, there was a clash between students and security forces, including mounted troops.
While the police called on the demonstrators to disperse, the students continued their protest by sitting on the university grounds, after which the police once again detained some demonstrators.
ISRAEL CALLS ON PROTESTS TO "STOP"
The protests at American universities, which have spread rapidly and have been met with harsh police intervention, have also been met with concern by Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for an end to protests at American universities in support of the Gaza Strip. "The protests on US university campuses are not only anti-Semitic, but also incitement to terrorism," Gallant said in a post on the X platform. The defense minister called on US authorities and universities to take immediate action to defend Jewish youth.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu also issued a video message in English. Netanyahu claimed that the demonstrations by students demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza were "antisemitic".
Describing the demonstrations at US universities as "horrible", Netanyahu called for an end to these protests. Netanyahu claimed that Israel was being unfairly accused of genocide and that everyone should react against the demonstrations, which he claimed were "antisemitic".
