Pro-Palestinian student protests in the U.S. have intensified and expanded over the past week, with a number of encampments now in place at colleges including Columbia, Yale, and New York University. Police have been called in to several campuses to arrest demonstrators.
In social media posts and a news release, the WA Students for Palestine group said pro-Palestinian voices were being suppressed and demanded schools take action.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle responded to the planned walkouts on Monday (April 22) with a statement stating “While we support the right to peaceful protest and free expression, we strongly condemn when such expression crosses the line into any form of antisemitism or intimidation.”
At Garfield High School in Seattle a small group exited the school around 10:30 a.m. local time (1730 gmt) and congregated along the front steps before leaving for a rally with students from other schools at a nearby park.
/”We don’t care who’s being killed and we don’t care who’s killing them,/” said Maysun Dawahare, 17, an Arab-American student who walked out. /”It’s wrong that they’re being killed at all. But because it happens to be Gaza and it happens to be Israel does not mean that we are going to hate on Jewish people for it./”
In addition to the group of students who left the school early for the day, were a small group of local activists who turned out to show their support.
/”I definitely support it. When you think back on the history of this country and the protests that have changed this country, it’s really been students that have sat in, walked off, gone on student strikes that has inspired often the labor movement to take action./” said Doreen McGrath, 67, who lives in Seattle and is a member of the Freedom Socialist Party. /”I hope that a lot of the student strikes that are happening now from the college campuses to the high schools do inspire others to take action./”
Some students participating in the Seattle area walk out planned to attend a rally at nearby Cal Anderson Park later in the day. (REUTERS)
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