Gaza: the student protest movement in Australia

– Sydney also vibrates to the rhythm of pro-Palestinian mobilizations

Hundreds of pro-Palestinians and pro-Israelis gathered on Friday at a university in the Australian city. The police did not have to intervene.

Published today at 2:35 p.m.

Some pro-Palestinian activists have been camping for around ten days.

AFP

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators came face to face Friday at a university in Sydney, Australia, caught up in the tumult of demonstrations on American campuses and the conflict in the Middle East.

Both sides chanted slogans and waved flags. But despite some tense exchanges, the two gatherings remained peaceful.

Pro-Palestinian activists have been camped for 10 days on a lawn opposite the sprawling Gothic building of the University of Sydney, a bastion of Australian academic knowledge.

Meeting point

The dozens of tents decorated with Palestinian banners and flags have become a meeting point for hundreds of protesters – students and not – who oppose Israel’s ground invasion and bombing of Gaza.

Deaglan Godwin, 24, is an arts and science student and one of the camp’s organizers. He says the protests in the United States are both an inspiration and a warning.

The mobilization at Columbia University in New York, the scenes of police repression and the mass arrests “inspired us to create our own camp,” he explains.

Cut ties with Israel

But Columbia “has also become a warning (…) that the government is ready to use brutal, lethal force to neutralize pro-Palestinian demonstrators,” he adds.

Like their American counterparts, Australian protesters want the University of Sydney to cut its ties with Israeli institutions and refuse donations from arms companies.

University for “freedom of expression”

University administrators do not want to replicate the American experience. University Vice President Mark Scott wrote to students and staff to express his “commitment to free speech” and did not ask police to dismantle the camp.

Australian police were visibly absent during Friday’s face-off, with around a hundred pro-Israeli activists standing in front of some 400 pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Law enforcement vehicles were parked far away, on the outskirts of campus. Security was provided by university guards, who formed a loose cordon between the two camps.