Diredam Aparat, Demo Solidaritas Palestina Di Kampus AS Justru Merembet Ke Prancis Dan Australia

Students participating in the pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of their tent in the North Carolina University area, USA. (Instagram @uncsjp)

JAKARTA - Student demonstrations against Israeli attacks on Palestinians at Columbia University, United States (US) have spread to a number of well-known campuses in France.

Sciences Po University students in Paris held a demonstration asking the world to pay attention to humanity in Palestine by opposing Israeli aggression.

They also asked the campus to cut off financial relations and research funds from affiliated institutions or companies with Israel, which is considered responsible for the deaths of 34,500 Palestinians -- mostly women and children -- since Israel's military aggression in Gaza in October 2023.

Demonstrations at Sciences University Po have been held since Wednesday 24 April. Hours after the demonstration began, Sciences University Chancellor Po Jean Basseres called riot police. This is an unusual moment in France because the police rarely set foot at universities in the country.

Although there were no arrests, according to several students and lecturers, the Chancellor's decision violated the red line. Protests then continued on Thursday, April 25 with several people camping overnight.

Ismail, a master student at Sciences Po who took part in the demonstration, said several acts of intimidation had been launched but his determination to voice rejection of Israeli militarism in Palestine could not be contained.

"The university official told us we could be expelled that the director would call riot police officers again, and we would not get a diploma," he told Al Jazeera, Tuesday, April 30.

"Personally, I'm not afraid. I'm potentially facing disciplinary sanctions from universities involved in genocide. If it's something I have to take care of, I'll do it," continued Ismail.

Sciences Po is known to have entered into partnerships with several universities in the Middle East, including Tel Aviv University in Israel. Meanwhile, some undergraduate and graduate students study in exchange programs in Israel.

This demonstration as a disclosure of solidarity with the Palestinian people broke out on a number of campuses after the Columbia University students conducted it since approximately two weeks ago.

The campuses in the US include the University of California, Harvard University, Yale University, Utah University, New York University, North Carolina University, Massachussetts Instituteof Technology (MIT), University of Texas, Emory University of Atlanta and George University of Washington.

Mass concentrations of students also appeared in Australia, including the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney.

In addition to demonstrations, students also set up tents in their campus parks to be occupied as a protest and increase vigilance.

Respons Aparat Repressive

Demonstrations on campuses against Israeli attacks on Gaza cannot be separated from the repressive actions of the apparatus.

Officials carried out excessive violence using tear gas and an electric shock gun to disperse the demonstrations that took place on campuses in the US, such as at Emory Atlanta University.

In a number of documentations on media and social media, it can be seen that the authorities wear antihuru-hara clothes to carry semi-automatic weapons to control the masses.

Even in media footage, the officers randomly slammed students onto the ground like arresting criminals.

From the aggressive actions of the apparatus, many students participating in the pro-Palestinian demonstration were arrested.