Yesterday Amnesty International condemned the repressive measures taken by the administration of American universities and the suppression of military protests against Israel’s war in the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a press statement, the advocacy group called on university administrators across the U.S. to “protect and facilitate the rights of all students to peacefully and safely protest on their campuses.”
“University administrators in the United States have gone to great lengths to impede students’ right to protest, even involving local authorities and demanding arrests while suspending students who participate in peaceful demonstrations,” the report said, adding that pro-Palestinian protests at the college and campuses around him were met with “obstructive and repressive measures by the authorities.”
“Higher education institutions play a key role in helping students understand and assert their human rights. Any steps taken to silence, harass, threaten or otherwise intimidate those peacefully protesting and speaking out are a violation of their rights,” said Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA.
“Becoming a student does not mean leaving the right to protest at the university gates.”
Read: Where is the voice of Arab student movements?
The human rights organization said academic freedom is an integral part of the right to education under international law, and stressed that university administrators have a responsibility to create an environment that allows for diverse viewpoints and to ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate in such discussions. “Campus activism is a critical component of this freedom and debate,” it added.
“Due to the real and known risks of police violence that students may face, administrators should call law enforcement to disperse demonstrations on campus only as a last resort, such as in the face of widespread violence or incitement to violence and discrimination,” the statement says.
“The right to protest is critical to speaking freely against what is happening in Gaza right now,” O’Brien continued.
“This is especially true as the US government continues to supply weapons to the Israeli military and becomes increasingly complicit in the atrocities committed against Palestinians every day.”
Amnesty said criticism of the Israeli government’s actions is not inherently anti-Semitic.
For days, hundreds of students continued to protest at several US universities, demanding “a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to US military aid to Israel, and the divestment of university investments from companies that profit from the Israeli invasion.” »
Dozens of people were arrested, including university professors, who tried to stop the arrests of unarmed, nonviolent protesters.
