National Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestine organization that has branches on campuses throughout the US, called for a “day of rage” on Monday, as Israel commemorated one year since the October 7 massacre.
The “day of rage,” including a vigil to honor “martyrs” and speakers from anti-Israel groups, commenced a so-called week of rage until October 11.
“We will rise for Lebanon, we will rise for Gaza, and we will affirm our commitment to the struggle until the roots of evil are extracted from the Arab world and beyond,” National SJP said in a statement.
National SJP branches at many campuses organized smaller events on Monday.
At Columbia University, students, left-wing groups, and unionist groups planned a mass walkout from class, followed by a main protest on the steps of Low Library.
The groups advertised the protest via flyers, some of which featured slogans such as, “Glory to the martyrs, victory to the resistance.”
A memorial was set up nearby on the Columbia campus for the Israeli victims of the October 7 massacre, featuring teddy bears covered in blood, Supernova music festival flags, Israeli flags, and an empty baby buggy to symbolize the babies and children killed by Hamas.
Within our Lifetime, a large, nationwide pro-Palestine organization run by Nerdeen Kiswani, organized a protest in New York called “Flood New York for Palestine” on Monday afternoon.
WOL encouraged “no work” and “no school.” As a result, many of the students involved in the walkouts chose to head to Washington Square Park to join the protest after leaving class.
Many US campuses said they were putting additional security measures in place ahead of October 7.
City University of New York said it had “deployed additional private officers to campuses to provide support and issue guidance on demonstrations to college presidents and deans ahead of Oct. 7.”
At Vassar College, a private liberal arts school in Poughkeepsie, New York, the SJP branch planned a walkout and protest on campus. It also told students that “masks [were] encouraged.”
Mayor Adams responds to security threats
Despite the protests, New York Mayor Eric Adams stressed the significance of the day for Jewish communities and asked for others not to interfere in memorials for the victims.
“The largest Jewish population outside of Israel is here in New York,” he told the New York Daily News.
“We’re going to make sure that people are able to acknowledge the pain of that day without any interference and making sure that those who want to peacefully protest, they can do so peacefully,” Adams said. “We are not going to tolerate violence or acts of disruptive destruction of property.”
Hamas should be destroyed, and all the hostages should be returned, he said.
