‘There’s a genocide happening right now in Palestine’: University of Maryland students show support for protestors at Columbia University
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (DC News Now) — Students at the University of Maryland are showing solidarity with their peers in New York, who have been protesting the use of force by the Israeli government in Gaza over the last week.
“We’re just trying to raise awareness of Palestine and the people of Gaza, also standing in solidarity with our brothers at Columbia,” said UMD junior, Mathew Foos.
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Foos and a few dozen other people sat in at Hornbake Plaza Tuesday. The group planted flags and posted pro-Palestine posters.
“Generally there’s a feeling that we’re college students and we don’t really know what the world is like, we don’t really understand how complex situations like Palestine are,” Foos said. “It’s simple. There’s a genocide happening right now in Palestine.”
Last week, police arrested more than a hundred students at Columbia University. It happened after the group set up an encampment on campus, demonstrating in support of a ceasefire in the middle east. Since then, students at universities across the country have done the same.
The camps have caused tension among many, as Jewish students have reported feeling unsafe.
As a result, Columbia University announced that its classes will be hybrid for the rest of the semester.
Meanwhile Monday night, pro-Palestine protestors at New York University’s campus were also arrested.
“It’s so heartbreaking because those students did nothing wrong,” said Zyad Kahn, a freshman at UMD. “It’s the first amendment, freedom of speech. It’s what America is built on.”
Kahn said the group at UMD intends to be peaceful, as they call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the university to divest from companies that support the Hamas-Israel war.
“We’re here to show community and support and show love. We’re not here for hatred. We’re all human and we all want to see human lives be preserved,” he said.
DC News Now reached out to the Jewish Student Union at UMD, but did not hear back in time for publication.
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