From Columbia University on the East Coast to Stanford University in California, thousands of students are up in arms against US President Joe Biden for his handling of the war in Gaza.
Students have rallied behind the people of Palestine and are holding Biden responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians, including children and women, in Gaza by Israeli forces.
"Columbia University cancelled in-person classes, Yale police arrested dozens of student protesters, and pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up encampments at other colleges Monday as tensions flared again on campuses across the country over the Israel-Gaza war," "The Washington Post" reported.
"Students at many schools are escalating protests over the war, living in tents on campus, disrupting university events, and risking and provoking arrest, leading to a growing sense of chaos and crackdown at colleges in the waning days of the academic year," the daily wrote.
According to "The New York Times," police made arrests of students at the New York University to quell the pro-Palestine demonstrations. "Officers at NYU moved into the crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters at around 8:30 pm, after university leaders said the group had breached school barricades and behaved in a 'disorderly, disruptive and antagonising' manner," the daily said.
At the University of California, Berkley, pro-Palestinian students and their allies set up about 15 tents.
Videos and pictures of the protests have gone viral on social media. One of the videos is of a protest by students of the prestigious Columbia University in New York, being led by someone identified by many as an Indian student. In the video, she is seen passionately raising the slogan "Azadi. Le Ke Rahenge Azadi."
The White House condemned such a protest. "Echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organisations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms," it said.
"Do you condemn the antisemitic protests on college campuses?" reporters asked Biden on Monday. "I condemn the antisemitic protests. That is why I have set up a programme to deal with that. I also condemn those who do not understand what is going on with the Palestinians and their -- how they are being," the president said.
Numerous professors also joined the protest with the students in support and solidarity after Senators Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley demanded that Biden bring in the National Guard to suppress the pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University.
On Monday, Harvard College suspended the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and ordered the group to "cease all organisational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term" or risk permanent expulsion, according to an e-mail obtained by the university newspaper, "The Crimson."
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