As anti-Israel protests against the Gaza war continue to envelop American universities, demonstrators at Harvard University hoisted the Palestinian flag over the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard, a spot which is designated for the American flag.
Since the mass arrests at Columbia University in New York on April 18, there have been almost 900 arrests made nationwide.
The incident that occurred on Saturday at Harvard University occurred because pro-Palestine demonstrators have refused to end their continuous agitation on the Ivy League university campus.
According to the student newspaper, Harvard Crimson, three Palestinian flags were flown over the campus on Saturday night. Protesters yelled "Shame!" and chanted "Free, free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" as Harvard Yard Operations employees took down the flags.
Meanwhile, pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed on Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles. Demonstrators reportedly tore down a barrier the school had erected to keep the two groups apart, according to the Reuters news agency.
Students at George Washington University in Washington, DC, set up scores of tents in a park and on a nearby street as part of ongoing protests on Sunday, according to CNN. Protesters chanted "Free Palestine" as they waved Palestinian flags and some wore traditional keffiyehs.
Also Read: Police arrest numerous pro-Palestinian protesters on US university campuses
Palestinian students organized a show of solidarity at a camp for refugees in southern Gaza's Rafah, CNN reported, as a way to thank US college campuses for their support. The students held banners that said "Students of Columbia University, continue to stand by us".
There have been reports of vandalism on University of Southern California property. According to the university, it was done "by individuals who are part of the group that has continued to illegally camp on our campus".
Speaking about the ongoing demonstrations, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby stated that while President Joe Biden "knows that there are very strong feelings," local authorities will be in charge of overseeing the demonstrations.
The Tufts University's Medford-Somerville campus in Massachusetts stated in a statement on Sunday that the protest encampment "must end ideally peacefully and voluntarily" in order to "celebrate the class of 2024 at Commencement without disruptions."
Also Read: Israel's war on Gaza: Pro-Palestine protests escalate at US universities
Negotiations between student protesters and administrators to end the protests reached a deadlock when "students made clear on social media that they will not accept anything less than their original demands," according to a statement from Sally Kornbluth, the president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University have persisted for the past two weeks due to a breakdown in talks between the administration and the demonstrating students. Over the past weekend, there have been no arrests.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell referred to the nationwide protests as "a dangerous situation" in an interview conducted on Sunday. “There’s also antisemitism, which is completely unacceptable. I’ve been shocked to see that in this country,” he told NBC News.
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