PHD Lund University students show support for Palestine at graduation ceremony in Sweden

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Newly qualified doctors who took part in the annual Lund graduation ceremony in Sweden, expressed support for Palestine alongside pro-Palestinian protesters who pitched tents and demonstrated against the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip, according to media reports on Friday.

PHD Lund University graduates showed support by carrying the Palestinian flag and by marching with students in solidarity with Gaza, according to public broadcaster, SVT.

Swedish police forcibly removed students from a pro-Palestinian tent protest Thursday at the school which has been ongoing since May 16, in solidarity with Palestinians and to protest the Israeli offensive.

The demolition of the tent camp upset several protesters -- one of the reasons for the demonstration at the ceremony.

“I am here to protest against the brutality of the police yesterday,” said a student identified as Gustav by SVT.

“We are against the police who dragged us out by force and the university which does not want to talk to the students but humiliates us and drags us out by force,” he added.

Several people were arrested Wednesday and dozens detained at another pro-Palestinian protest outside KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, according to a police statement.

Protests erupted around the globe after campus encampments have shaken US universities in recent weeks.

Pro-Palestine protests have been persistent in the US since April 17, when students at Columbia University in New York launched an encampment in solidarity with Gaza and demanded the school divest from Israel.

More than 2,000 people have since been arrested on US campuses amid heavily polarized debates about the right to protest, the limits of free speech and accusations of antisemitism.

Demonstrations and sit-ins are also being held on campuses in Europe, including France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, amid a demand to stop Israeli attacks on Gaza that have killed more than 36,200 victims, mostly women and children, and injured over 81,700 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.