- A wave of pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s devastating war on Gaza grows globally.
- In the United States, police have arrested students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza in a raid on New York’s Columbia University, while a Palestinian solidarity encampment at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles has been attacked.
- In the United Kingdom, antiwar campaigners are staging a protest in London, calling on the government to halt arms supplies to Israel.
- In South Africa, the war on Gaza is expected to be one of the themes covered during a march commemorating International Workers’ Day.
- ‘UK weapons going to bombs dropped on Gaza’Speaking to Al Jazeera from the protest site in London, Trade unionist Lukas Slothuus says members of the union who work at the Department of Business and Trade “are concerned that they are handling licenses for weapons that contribute to the genocide in Gaza”.“Weapons that are produced in Britain under these licenses that they are handing in the department are going to bombs that are being dropped on Gaza,” he explained.“They are worried, of course on a moral and ethical ground that that’s deeply wrong and they don’t want to be complicit in it but also on a legal ground that if they have a responsibility for those licenses then they actually become complicit in the genocide committed by Israel,” Slothuus said.“So they are seeking to take legal action to actually prevent being forced to do this work and through their union they are putting pressure on the department so that they can stop having to do this work.”Nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment and attacks on Gaza have killed at least 34,568 people and wounded 77,765 others, according to Palestinian health officials.
- Protesters urge UK government halt arms exports to IsraelCampaigners in London are protesting outside the Department for Business and Trade calling on the UK government to halt arms supplies to Israel.Reporting from the protest, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said demonstrators have formed “a human chain” around the building blocking the entrances.“It is International Workers’ Day May 1 and the point of this protest is the trade unionists’ support for members of the PCS union who work inside and who have expressed their misgivings about continuing with arms exports to Israel despite the fact that question marks remain over the legality of that,” Brennan said.
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- A quick recap of what happened overnight in US campuses
- New York City police officers entered the campus of Columbia University, taking multiple people into custody.Violent confrontations erupted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after pro-Palestinian protesters came under attack by pro-Israel rivals.At the University of Southern Florida in Tampa, police fired tear gas at students who set up a Gaza solidarity camp and arrested two people.Sixteen people were arrested at the University of New Mexico as police forcefully removed pro-Palestine protesters occupying the college’s Student Union building.At Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, university administrators reached an agreement with students to bring their protests to an end after saying they would vote on divesting funds from firms linked to Israel’s war on Gaza.
- Welcome to our live coverageHello and thank you for joining us as we bring you all the latest updates on pro-Palestine protests from US campuses and elsewhere.Stay with the Al Jazeera Live team for all the developments, analyses and reactions throughout the day.
- Police detain a protester at Columbia University [David Dee Delgado/Reuters]
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/1/live-us-university-protests-spread-amid-growing-calls-to-end-gaza-war
