Why are police cracking down on US campus protests? – Full Story podcast
Police have arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian university students. Erum Salam and Margaret Sullivan report from New York
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This episode was first played on our global news podcast, Today in Focus.
As the Israel-Gaza war grinds on amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, the world’s attention has been captured by a battle on the campuses of elite US universities. Pro-Palestinian student protesters were arrested en masse by New York City police at the prestigious Columbia University, prompting outrage that spread across other college sites.
Guardian US reporter Erum Salam tells Michael Safi that the scene on Columbia’s campus was one of orderly drum circles and organised anti-war demonstrations, not the all-out violent chaos that might have been imagined.
The columnist Margaret Sullivan teaches at Columbia’s journalism school. She explains how the issue has exploded into national and international news and why it’s not going away any time soon.
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