Students at New York’s Fordham University set up Gaza solidarity encampment

By Mucahit Oktay

NEW YORK (AA) - A group of students at Fordham University in New York City set up a Gaza solidarity encampment Wednesday, joining similar encampments launched nationwide to demand an end to Israel’s war on the enclave.

A large number of students gathered in the lobby of the Leon Lowenstein Center, a building at the university’s Lincoln Center campus, setting up five tents as part of the encampment in solidarity with Palestinians.

Students were handed notices by the university administration written by Lincoln Center student dean Jenifer Campbell instructing them to leave Fordham University property immediately.

The university said it was also suspending the students from on-campus housing, classes, final exams and all events.

The move came after officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) entered Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday night and arrested nearly 300 pro-Palestinian students who occupied a building on the campus.

Protesters had occupied Hamilton Hall, which they renamed "Hind's Hall" in memory of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was brutally killed in the Gaza Strip, and vowed not to disperse unless the university met their demands, which included divestment from all Israeli firms.

Columbia's protests began in April and have served as a flashpoint for the wider anti-war movement after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, initially asked the NYPD to deploy to campus on April 18, when more than 100 people were taken into custody in an attempt to clear an encampment.

The antiwar protesters have been incensed over Israel's ongoing offensive on Gaza following last October's cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed around 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed and over 76,000 injured.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.