Student sit-in at the University of Toronto in Canada in support of Palestine.
According to al-Mayadeen, students of some Canadian universities also announced their support for the people of Gaza and the Palestinians by holding a student sit-in.
In this connection, it has been reported that a student sit-in was held at the University of Toronto in Canada in support of the Palestinian people and condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the residents of Gaza.
During this sit-in, the students of the University of Toronto demanded an end to support and investment in universities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Mohammed Yasin”, a student activist from the University of Toronto, said that the sit-in with the presence of students from different countries in this famous Canadian university will continue in the coming days.
The student sit-in in Canada to support Palestine and to request an end to the war in Gaza is taking place at the same time as the protests of the student movement in America. President of George Washington University said about the student protests: All our measures, including asking for police help, could not end the protests.
The president of George Washington University also emphasized that we are in contact with the authorities of the capital and that the police will increase their presence in and around the university.
After learning about the numerous crimes committed by the occupied Jerusalem regime against the people of Gaza and the killing of about 35 thousand innocent people, universities across America have become the arena of protest against the policies of this regime and the American government as its most important supporter. In the meantime, one of the most important issues that attracts attention with the spread of protests to various American university centers is the policies of the American government and the police of this country. The government and the police in this country, regardless of the demands of the protesters, have only adopted a policy of widespread repression and arrest.
From the early days of the Zionist regime’s attacks on Gaza, the American society was the scene of various reactions to this event. Various polls show an unprecedented increase in American support for the people of Gaza. According to a March 2024 Gallup poll, most Americans do not approve of the occupation regime’s actions in Gaza. The number of people opposed to the actions of the Zionist regime increased from 45% in November 2023 to 55%. 75% of Democrats have a negative view of Tel Aviv’s actions. Raed Jarrar from the Democracy for the Arab World think tank believes that the above survey shows a separation between the policy of the Biden government and the views of most Americans about the occupation regime’s actions in Gaza and that the foreign policy of the US government is not in line with the voters’ expectations.
Protests by American students in support of the Palestinian people started at Columbia and Harvard universities. By issuing a joint statement, the protesting students identified the occupying regime as fully responsible for the war. These protests gradually spread to a large number of universities in this country such as Amory, Michigan, Brown, Humboldt Polytechnic, Berkeley, Southern California, New York, Yale, Columbia, Massachusetts, Texas, Minnesota, etc., so far 79 American universities are involved in protests. It is against the occupying regime of Quds. In addition to the presence of students, in some universities, pro-Palestinian professors also actively participate in the protests.
The main demand of the American students is solidarity with the Palestinian nation, within the framework of which they have demanded a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the end of the military aid of the American government to the occupying regime, the termination of the cooperation of the university with the weapons complexes and the abandonment of the investment process of the universities in the occupied territories. As the protests escalated, the administrators of some universities tried to reach an agreement with the students. For example, the officials of Brown University in the state of Rhode Island announced that they have reached an agreement with the pro-Palestinian students to vote to stop investing in occupied Palestine in October 2024. The students, while ending their sit-in, considered this agreement an unprecedented victory and a great privilege.