PARIS: Student protests against the Israeli military assault on Gaza have spread to several countries. Demonstrators have gathered on at least 40 US university campuses since April 17, often erecting tent camps to protest against the soaring death toll in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 2,000 people have been detained, according to US media, in demonstrations reminiscent of protests.
Pro-Palestinian protests have rocked US campuses for weeks, spreading to countries including France and Australia. The US actions appeared to ease Friday after clashes with police, mass arrests and a stern White House directive to restore order.
In recent days, police have forcibly dismantled several student sit-ins, including one at New York University at the request of its administrators.
Demonstrators barricaded inside Columbia University, the epicentre in New York of the student protests, complained of police brutality when officers cleared the faculty.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, hundreds of police emptied a camp, tearing down barriers and detaining more than 200 protesters.
Meanwhile, police forcibly evacuated protesters from a pro-Gaza sit-in at Sciences Po in Paris, the country's top political science school. Officials said 91 people were arrested.
Sciences Po interim administrator Jean Basseres rejected a student demand to examine the institution's links with Israeli universities.
Outside the nearby Sorbonne University, the Union of Jewish Students in France set up a "dialogue table" on Friday.
In Germany, a number of demonstrators were "forcibly" removed after refusing to decamp to another location, police said.
Berlin mayor Kai Wegner criticised the protest, saying on X that the city didn't want to see events like those in the United States or France.
Students have also protested against the war in Gaza in several Canadian cities, including Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
Hundreds of demonstrators have joined the first and largest camp, at Montreal's McGill University, in the face of threats of a police clearance.
In Mexico Pro-ceasefire demonstrators have been camped for 10 days on a green lawn in front of the university. They want it to cut ties with Israeli institutions and reject funding from arms companies.
Students at Trinity College Dublin university began a sit-in on Friday, describing the protest as a "solidarity encampment with Palestine".
Dozens of students from the country's largest university, UNAM, set up a camp in the capital on Thursday, chanting "Free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will overcome".
They want the Mexican government to sever all ties with Israel. — AFP
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