Trump, at a rally in Waukesha, #Wisconsin, called for tougher action against campus protests & again suggested some of the protesters were paid actors. He called on college presidents to “remove the encampments immediately, vanquish the locals & take back our campuses for all of the normal students.”
Like the #protesters, Biden believes that #Israel has inflicted too much carnage in #Gaza. Unlike some of them, he defends Israel’s sovereignty & recoils at the notion of Jews losing a homeland.
For now, #Biden is taking a hands-off posture toward the unrest & has no plans to step up his involvement in escalating clashes between #police & #protesters, WH & campaign advisers said, even as #Trump looks to capitalize on the issue.
Dozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York early Tuesday, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.
...peaceful #demonstrations through the June 1 end of spring classes and in exchange, requires removal of all tents except one for aid, and restricts the demonstration area to allow only students, faculty and staff unless the university approves otherwise.
At the University of Southern California [#USC], organizers of a large encampment sat down with university President Carol Folt for about 90 minutes on...
"Under mounting pressure from #rightwing parties to declare a #StateOfEmergency, which would give authorities extra powers to ban #demonstrations and limit free movement, the government is desperate to avoid a repeat of 2005, when the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase sparked three weeks of rioting." #DeathOfNahel
UK Descending into Authoritarianism as it bans demonstrations & stifles free speech.
Human Rights Watch’s UK Director Yasmine Ahmed recently said: “Not only is the government talking about ripping up domestic human rights law and ignoring its international obligations, it has launched an open attack on the right to peacefully demonstrate, is locking up climate protesters, criminalizing refugees and has given the police unprecedented powers over citizens.”
The #UK is following in other #European countries footsteps with new powers to break up the #climate group's slow marches.
By Euronews Green
Published on 31/10/2023
"More than 60 #CimateActivists have been arrested in #London under the UK’s 'repressive' new anti-protest laws.
"Just Stop Oil protesters were taking part in a ‘slow march’ around Parliament Square yesterday morning (30 October), demanding an end to new #oil and #gas licenses.
"Within 10 minutes, Metropolitan police arrived - blocking their path and forcing activists off the road. When this proved unsuccessful, videos and photos show police kneeling on and handcuffing protesters, before carrying them into vans.
"This is the first time that the Met have made arrests under section 7 of the #PublicOrderAct 2023, which bans any activity that 'interferes with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in #England and #Wales.'
Today in Labor History March 30, 1930: Hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers demonstrated in thirty cities. 35,000 marched in New York City and were violently assaulted by the police. At the time, there was virtually no formal aid available for the unemployed or poor. The ruling elite feared that workers would choose the dole over work if given the choice. So, they opposed unemployment insurance. Even the AFL opposed unemployment insurance because it saw itself as the representative of skilled workers only. It didn’t care about unskilled factory workers. The demonstrations were organized by the Communist Party, with the goal of overthrowing capitalism.
The Guardian today has a photo of tents on the steps of UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall, the admin building. I spent a night in such a tent in 1985, as part of an anti-apartheid protest. That protest now has a lengthy Web page praising it on the official UC site, because the whole movement achieved its goals.
Ironically, today's protest could equally well have taken place in 1985, also.
@plragde It's wonderful that the apartheid regime in South Africa fell. In retrospect, do you think that protests at Columbia University in 1985 had any significant role in that fall?
Thus far the #bbc has reported that around one hundred "counterdemonstrators" have been arrested. No news of arrests on the main #demonstration so presumably minimal thus far. Interesting!
" #ErnestMoret, foreign rights manager for Éditions la Fabrique, was detained at #StPancras station in April 23 on his way to the London book fair.
He was held under section 7 of the #TerrorismAct 2000, and questioned by counter-terrorist officers about whether he had taken part in anti-government #demonstrations in #France and if he backed #EmmanuelMacron."