An anti-Israel encampment was established on the lawn of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on Monday.
The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter of Rutgers University in New Brunswick (SJP Rutgers-NB) announced in a post on X that the encampment had “started” on Monday and was there to stay until “divestment.”
“ENCAMPMENT AT RUTGERS HAS STARTED!” the group wrote. “SHOW UP. HERE TILL DIVESTMENT.”
ENCAMPMENT AT RUTGERS HAS STARTED! SHOW UP🚨🚨 HERE TILL DIVESTMENT. pic.twitter.com/fKfQ8w9n6O
— SJP Rutgers-NB (@SJPRutgersNB) April 29, 2024
Several signs seen on tents in the encampment stated, “Free Palestine. Divest Now,” “F**k colonialism,” and “Globalize the Intifada.”
SOLIDARITY SEEN THROUGHOUT OUR ENCAMPMENT pic.twitter.com/vC4pvTLqTc
— SJP Rutgers-NB (@SJPRutgersNB) April 30, 2024
“We will not leave Voorhees Mall the same way Palestinians in Gaza refuse to leave their homes until our demands are met,” SJP Rutgers-NB said in a statement, according to NorthJersey.com.
The anti-Israel encampment comes as other encampments and protests have sprouted up on college and university campuses throughout the United States.
An initial encampment was established on Columbia University’s campus on April 17. The next day, several students were suspended and arrested for their involvement.
Columbia University had removed the encampment, but since then, it has returned.
People listen to a speaker at a pro-Palestinian encampment, advocating for financial disclosure and divestment from all companies tied to Israel and calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, inside the campus of Columbia University in April 28, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Since the start of the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia University, others have been established at Harvard University, George Washington University, Yale University, the University of California Los Angeles, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway issued a statement acknowledging that “students want to make a difference,” according to the outlet.
In his statement, Holloway said:
Our students want to make a difference in a struggle that has cost far too many innocent lives and that threatens so many more. I respect their right to protest in ways that do not interfere with university operations or with the ability of their fellow students to learn.
SJP Rutgers-NB revealed in a post on Instagram that undergraduate students at Rutgers locations in New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark had allegedly voted in large margins in favor of Rutgers University and the state of New Jersey to divest “its endowment fund from companies that profit, engage in, or contribute to the government of Israel’s human rights violations.”
Protesters in the encampments have issued various demands to universities, such as asking for divestment from Israeli companies, ending academic ties with Israeli universities, and full amnesty for the protesters who have been suspended or arrested over involvement in the anti-Israel encampments.