NYU activists protest 'pro-apartheid wall,' call for 'student intifada'
A group of anti-Israel student activists recently protested against a 'pro-apartheid wall' outside of New York University's Gould Plaza.
Students were also said to protest the increased police presence as a result of the wall, as well as promote other pro-Palestine political causes.
A group of anti-Israel student activists recently protested against a “pro-apartheid wall” outside of New York University’s Gould Plaza.
On Thursday, nearly four dozen activists joined in opposing the plaza’s temporary barricade, which was erected after an anti-Israel encampment in April, the Washington Square News reports. Students were also said to protest the increased police presence as a result of the wall, as well as promote other pro-Palestine political causes.
”8 months after being violently removed from the plaza for protesting genocide, we are back,” the NYU People’s Solidarity Coalition posted to Instagram the day before the demonstration. “THIS THURSDAY, NOV. 21, WE JOIN THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR GAZA AND LEBANON.”
”At 12:30, join us to rally outside the Gould Plaza Wall — erected in response to our demands for divestment,” the group added. “No business as usual as the U.S-Israeli genocide of our people continues. No class as usual as NYU remains invested in the U.S. imperial war machine.”
The student organization also wrote, “LONG LIVE THE STUDENT INTIFADA,” and that it “will not rest until NYU divests!”
In a statement provided to the Washington Square News, one member of the People’s Solidarity Coalition explained that the group “wanted to show the university community and administration that we remember what they did” in regard to the barricade. “Their walls quite clearly show where their allegiances lie,” the individual added.
The NYU activists were said to have left the demonstration to join other local, anti-Israel student activists at Columbus Circle in response to the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s “International Day of Action.”
📍NYC
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/gRa3FGINOd— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) November 21, 2024
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In April, the Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a statement condemning the newly erected barricade around Gould Plaza.
”Our universities have chosen profit and reputation over the lives of the people of Palestine and our will as students,” the group wrote at the time. “We must recognize the power and strength of the united students, staff, and faculty committed to realizing justice and upholding Palestinian liberation on campus.”
”[W]e will take back our university and demand our administration to divest, for the people of Gaza!” it continued.