Refusing to leave the protest camp – banned from the university

Palestine protesters have set up camp at a famous university in New York and are refusing to leave the area.

Tuesday 30 April at 01:34

In an update from Columbia University, it is said that they have started banning students who refuse to leave the area.

The police gave the protesters a deadline of 14:00 local time to dissolve the makeshift protest camp.

Columbia is one of many universities across the US that have had demonstrations. The main message is an end to the war in Gaza, but also that the universities stop supporting Israel.

On Tuesday night, Vice President Ben Chang at Columbia confirms that they have banned students who refuse to follow the authorities’ call. They thus risk their study place, with a tuition fee of over NOK 600,000. They are not allowed to participate in classes or take exams.

– Students who leave the area voluntarily and sign that they will follow the university’s rules will be allowed to finish the semester, says Chang.

The demonstrations have meant that other non-demonstrator students are not allowed to enter the campus, and Columbia has long had to run lectures via screen

At the same time, Jewish students feel unsafe on campus with the massive protests against Israel. Open support has also been expressed for Hamas, which carried out the terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October, and which the US government considers a terrorist organisation.

Many of the protesters wear masks, refuse to identify themselves and behave threateningly. This led to Pomona College in Claremont, California having to call in the police to remove and arrest protesters who entered the administration buildings.

The university nevertheless emphasizes the students’ right to demonstrate and exercise freedom of expression.

There have also been protests at elite universities such as Yale and Harvard.

Also read: The Gaza war creates a university crisis in the United States