Yale Students for Justice in Palestine holds vigil for Palestinians killed by ‘colonial genocide’
Attendees placed 500 Palestinian flags for ‘186,000 LIVES STOLEN.’
The event, which drew around 200 attendees, coincided with National Students for Justice in Palestine’s Day of Action.
Yalies4Palestine, the Ivy League school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, mourned Palestinian deaths caused by “colonial genocide” on Sept. 12.
200 students attended the event, which coincided with National Students for Justice in Palestine’s Day of Resistance. “This was a vigil to mourn all of the lives that have been lost in the colonial genocide that has been going on in Gaza not just since Oct. 7, but for the past 75 years,” an attendee of the vigil told Yale Daily News.
Attendees placed five hundred Palestinian flags with a printed message reading “OVER 186,000 LIVES STOLEN” on Yale’s Cross Campus lawn. A vigil held by Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return at the University of Washington inspired Yalies4Palestine to do the same, according to an attendee interviewed by the Yale Daily News.
A “free expression facilitator” attended the event. Yale first deployed free expression facilitators with “proven experience in conflict resolution, mediation, and de-escalation techniques” and “cultural competence and ability to work with diverse populations,” according to a recent Yale Daily News report.
Police officers arrested over 40 protesters after hundreds of students at the Ivy League institution set up tents on campus in April. A protester poked a Jewish student’s eye during the demonstration.
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On Aug. 28, Yale campus police arrested 14 protesters for criminal trespassing after they had set up an encampment. A crowd of nearly 100 people cheered the protesters as they walked into a courthouse.
Campus Reform has reached out to Yale University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
