As more and more students set up tents at University campuses across the United States the world was watching the dramatic images tonight Mass protests now at Columbia NYU MIT Yale the University of Minnesota Berkeley the world was watching when Columbia University decided to call in the NYPD to arrest its own students sa on you on.
You place to move on to Columbia's campus to moving moving and it was watching when those tent cities formed and reformed not just at Columbia but at Yale at the University of Texas at literally dozens of universities and college campuses across the United States then they spread to.
Europe Australia and now Canada what is happening across North America is a revolution what we have seen in the past six months masses of people around the world um rise up for Palestine so how did the ongoing war in Gaza so suddenly spark a series of concerted protests that have transformed University campuses Israel is a racist State free.
Free free Palestine cost the jobs of several high-profile administrators the president of the University of Pennsylvania has resigned Harvard president Claud and gay is stepping down and caused politicians to feel the need to get directly involved I call upon migil to get the help of the Montreal.
Police right now right across the country Jewish students do not feel safe let's try to understand it's been clear since the October 7th Hamas attack against Israel killing more than a thousand Israeli citizens and the subsequent invasion of Gaza killing more than 30,000 Palestinians that the conflict would.
Have a ripple effect on University campuses worldwide both sides held rallies students who were Pro Palestinian were accused of being pramas some were even physically attacked for it but as Israel's retaliation grew more and more deadly in the months after October 7th as Palestinian losses started to number in the hundreds at.
First then in the thousands then in the tens of thousands we began to see and lawmakers in the US began to increasingly focus on a backlash against not just Israel but against Jewish people worldwide there was a lot of conversation about what university leadership should say you know who are they taking sides what side are they.
Coming down on are they condemning the actions in Israel with enough um Force are they condemning any anti-Semitism that's on their campus with enough force a republican-led house education committee back in December called for an investigation into whether universities were doing enough to protect their students from hate speech but.
Specifically anti-Semitism the heads of three universities testified and one question in particular really tripped them up does calling for the genocide of Jews violate pens rules or code of conduct yes or no if the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment yes so the answer is yes it is a context dependent decision congresswoman it's a.
Context dependent decision that's your testimony today calling for the genocide of Jews is depending upon the context that is not bullying or harassment this is the easiest question to answer yes Miss McGill Liz McGill of the University of Pennsylvania who you just heard there along with Claudine gay of Harvard both resigned within days of testifying.
Months later it would be Colombia's turn to testify but with a big Advantage its president Manu shafik knew exactly what questions to expect does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Colombia's code of conduct Dr shafik yes it does we have already suspended 15 students from Colombia we have six on disciplinary probation she came prepared to.
Specifically call out those actions as anti-semitic and say that they would not be tolerated so she took a strong stance which really blunted criticism perhaps from these members of Congress who were prepared to grill her but that very morning the same day she seemed to so successfully fend off the attacks from Congress by drawing such a clear line.
Between free speech and hate speech a large group of her own students on campus were planning a big move they set up tents you're taking advantage of having a lot of attention on Colombia's campus so what better time than to set up an encampment history on our side I think following her testimony.
Students felt like the real issue was what was happening in Israel and Gaza and that they really wanted not just a statement at this point they wanted the university to take very specific actions as of 4 a.m. this morning Columbia University students have occupied the center of Campus they posted online calling out Colombia's complicity in.
Genocide genocide they say against Palestinians in Gaza many of these protesters want the war to stop they want universities to divest from businesses that they accuse of supporting the war effort they want a future for Palestinians but the university couldn't talk them out of their protest within 24 hours Colombia.
Called in New York City Police the NYPD some officers in riot gear descending on Columbia Police tore down the encampment and arrested more than a 100 demonstrators charging them with trespassing several were suspended from school but if the message here was this kind of protest will not be tolerated it.
Completely backfired we are very disturbed that the university has chosen to call the police on its own students I think they've inflamed things I think the arrests really triggered a lot of the student body to mobilize it emboldened students not just those at columb I who came right back and set up another 10th City but also other.
Students across the United States this was now a national protest clashes and arrests from the streets of New York to the University of Minnesota to calply Humble some of these protests have turned violent chaos erupts at what had been a peaceful Pro Palestinian protest when officers rushed to alumni park to pick up the tents demonstrators set up.
and some protests have turned up in other countries last week in Australia we saw tent cities take shape at the universities of Sydney Melbourne and Queensland the die of action began at Melbourne University students and staff setting up camp inspired by protests overseas we are protesting our universi.
Ongoing complicity in the genocide in Gaza similar protests have appeared in France in Italy in the UK and now the encampments have reached Canada this is the scene of protest on the campus of McGill University this encampment the first of its kind in western Canada over the weekend Montreal.
Students set up about 20 tents just behind the main gates at McGill University's downtown campus hundreds of students were there many from Gill but also from Concordia which is another University with a campus nearby as well as other universities too I've spoken to students uh who are also from different universities in Montreal like Concordia.
University the community has been showing up every day in huge numbers um this entire city is mobilizing um for the students in Montreal as in several American cities universities are grappling with precisely how much protest to tolerate because the message can sound dramatically different depending on.
Who's listening and I'll give you an example this Banner says inata until Victory the first inata lasted more than 5 years between the ' 80s and '90s a period of intense Uprising against Israel in Israeli occupied territories there can be a great deal of pride in that word for Palestinians a rallying cry for a people who demand freedom but.
For others it necessarily means more than that the second inata for example a decade later saw a dramatic escalation in the use of suicide bombings and you understand that the use of the term inata in the context of the Israeli Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel including violence against.
Civilians and the genocide of Jews are you aware of that here in Canada liberal MP Anthony housefather who is himself Jewish and a vocal supporter of Israel he posted this video on social media I have watched in horror what is happening at Columbia University in other US schools my friends had water thrown in their faces.
One of my friends had his Israeli flag ripped out of his hands and people were throwing hard objects at him including hitting him in the face and in the chest having peaceful demonstrations is a protective Charter right in Canada and right under the Bill of Rights in the United States but setting up encampments on College.
Emphases is a violation of pretty much every code of conduct his concern that these tents make other students especially Jewish students feel unsafe now you might imagine the students in those tents thinking of Gaza might interpret that word a little differently but housea has called on both the city and the province to do whatever is.
Necessary to enforce McGill's code of conduct which does not allow these kinds of encampments as a form of protest no matter the cause think that they're trying to essentially strike a balance and it is not easy between allowing free expression and also not um allowing what they would view as disruption and in and in fact many of these encampments do.
Violate University rules how do you balance what is safety and what's discomfort Mill University formally asked the students this weekend to dismantle the tense they refused the most recent statement we have now as we have failed to reach a resolution University leadership decided to take the final step in our protocol and.
Requested police assistance but this story is very fluid and by the time you watch this video the situation on the ground may have shifted realistically will St as long as we can the student body is unfazed and they are committed and determined um to you know sustain this encampment um until our demands are met with the support of the community of.
Course we reached out to to other nearby universities in Montreal Concordia and the unreal because we wanted to ask whether they were preparing for similar encampments to crop up on their campuses neither responded in time for this story but even as I was contemplating this piece and and researching the scale of.
These protests to date another encampment at a different Canadian University in a different Province appeared at the University of British Columbia UBC fre free pal free free pal and there's no reason to think at least some other Canadian universities won't follow soon
