A new pro-Palestinian camp at Columbia University was quickly disbanded last weekend, but Behind the controversial group It expressed their intention to wreak havoc on the campus in the future.
In a statement Released late Sunday nightThe Students for Justice for Palestine labelled the demonstration “Installation 1” of their “Summer of Unrest” and vowed “we will be back”.
The latest encampment, made up of student protesters from Columbia University’s Divest Apartheid Movement and Students for Justice in Palestine, emerged Friday night just as the campus opened for Alumni Weekend.
Protesters set up about a dozen tents on the university’s courtyard lawn, after a larger encampment was set up there last month but was eventually removed by the NYPD. [sorry I was wrong this morning, it was the same lawn]
Among the signs Found at camp One read: “We’re back, bitches.”
The group again called on universities to divest from Israel.
“The encampment follows revelations that Columbia University is in cahoots with the billionaire lobby,” the protesters said. wrote in the statement Posted by @sjp.columbia Instagram account.
“We refuse to shed any more blood,” they said. “We vow to disrupt every aspect of university life…Long live the Student Intifada.”
The group also encouraged participants to “We will paralyze every aspect of the university until this genocide and our complicity in it stops.”
According to an email sent to university officials, the number of protesters varied between about 25 and 60 people throughout the weekend, including students who occupied a large tent set up by the university for Alumni Weekend.
Public safety officials removed four unoccupied tents Friday evening, but seven more remained as of Saturday afternoon.
Demonstrators Resisted the policeAs campus police tried to clear the encampment, they clung to or collapsed on top of tents, yelling “shame, shame, shame.”
According to a statement sent Saturday from Rector Minouche Shafik’s office, several faculty members reportedly entered the camp site on Friday night and “attempted to initiate discussions with student leaders.”
The university further assured that the presence of public safety personnel on campus has been strengthened.
On Sunday night, the Students for Justice in Palestine announced the end of their Alumni Weekend camp and their intention to continue protesting in the future.
“Today, as Columbia University Alumni Weekend comes to a close, we conclude the first wave of #Revolt4Rafah,” the group wrote on Instagram. “We recommit ourselves to continuing our strategic, targeted attack on all aspects of university life that contribute to the normalization of this genocide.”
Protesters say this encampment will not be their last.
“There can be no business as usual during genocide,” they declared defiantly. “We will be back.”
Summer classes resumed on Monday, but access to campus was restricted to those with Columbia University ID cards.
