Pro-Palestinian protesters at Harvard have announced they will end the camp on campus after three weeks because their demands were ignored.
The group leading the protests, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, said Tuesday that it had voted to end the encampment at Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“The camp has survived the last day of school, finals week, and move-in weekend — a testament to the tenacity of our movement,” the group said.
‘But when the students left, the police became the dominant presence on campus. Interim President (Alan) Garber was willing to do everything possible to neutralize and evict our organizers in an insidious manner, without due process.
‘The campus is empty and the doors remain closed to the outside world. There is no isolated liberation. In re-evaluating the strategic value of our camp, we have come to the conclusion that this tactic has outlived its usefulness with respect to our demands.’
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Harvard have announced they will end the camp on campus after three weeks because their demands were ignored. The camp is seen on Monday.
Students protesting against the war in Gaza and bystanders walking through Harvard Yard are seen at a camp at Harvard University on Thursday, April 25.
Spokesman Jonathan Swain said Interim Ivy League President Garber plans to meet with the student protester to further discuss the war in Gaza.
The pro-Palestinian group, however, said of the meeting: ‘We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are victories on divestment… These side agreements are intended to appease us and move us away from full disclosure and divestment. Rest assured, they won’t.
According The New York Timesthe school also agreed to quickly reinstate suspended students.
Protests over the war between Israel and Hamas have spread to US college and university campuses in recent weeks, leading to riots and arrests.
Some demonstrations extended into the weekend’s graduation celebrations, though they were quiet compared to the encampments and demonstrations that have rocked campuses and resulted in nearly 2,900 arrests of students and other protesters.
Dozens of Duke University’s 7,000 graduates left their seats to protest pro-Israel speaker and comedian Jerry Seinfeld during the graduation ceremony in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday.
Some waved the red, green, white and black Palestinian flag and chanted “Free Palestine” amid a mix of boos and cheers.
Spokesman Jonathan Swain said Interim Ivy League President Garber plans to meet with the student protester to further discuss the war in Gaza.
A group of keffiyeh-clad pro-Palestinian protesters raised a large Palestinian flag over the monument to Harvard founder John Harvard last month.
Seinfeld, whose eponymous show over a decade became one of the most popular in American television history, was there to receive an honorary doctorate from the university.
The comedian and actor has publicly supported Israel since he invaded Gaza to dismantle Hamas after the organization attacked the country and killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7.
The ensuing war has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
