Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University set fire to their diplomas shortly after a graduation ceremony in protest at the school’s investments and research ties to Israel.
Columbia University has faced fierce backlash from students and alumni after acquiescing to President Donald Trump’s demands, which came when he revoked $400 million in federal funding and threatened further cuts over the school’s management of widespread protests against the Israeli regime, Press TV reported.
The demonstrators gathered outside the graduation ceremony on Wednesday, chanting ‘Free Palestine’, and holding a Palestinian flag with ‘Free Mahmoud Khalil’ written on it.
Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza across the US last year, was arrested on March 8 in New York.
“Free, free Palestine,” and “You’re committing genocide,” the protesters yelled in the rain to the sound of drums.
Images from the demonstration showed students burning their diplomas in protest, while others defiantly ripped theirs to pieces, proudly raising the tattered remains overhead.
According to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), police moved in and put out the flames, making one arrest.
Various American universities have been witnessing such protests denouncing the war of genocide in Gaza and the US military and political support for the Israeli regime.
Two weeks ago, student demonstrators occupied a Columbia library, prompting mass arrests as administrators vowed stricter enforcement against campus protests.
President Trump has begun following through on a threat to deport all non-citizen university activists with ties to the pro-Palestine protests, which rocked the US last spring.
Trump officials have accused these students of being “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the US over their condemnation of Israel’s months-long genocidal war on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Source: News Websites
