(29 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 29 April 2024
1. Wide of protesters at Columbia University
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Sueda Polat, student organizer:
"We will not be moved by this intimidation tactics. You can see outside you now that the students are mobilized. There’s hundreds of them here today. They will not be moved. We demand divestment. We will not be moved unless by force."
3. Wide of protesters at Columbia University
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sueda Polat, student organizer:
"This is a smokescreen. Bureaucracy is a prison, and the students refuse to trade in the blood of Palestinians. The university has conducted itself with obstinacy and arrogance, refusing to be flexible on some of our most basic points. That said, we were engaging in good faith negotiations until the administration cut them off under threat of suspensions, where we asked for amnesty, they gave us more discipline."
5. Wide of protesters at Columbia University
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sueda Polat, student organizer:
"Earlier this morning, university delegates appeared at the entrance of our encampment with disciplinary notices, essentially alerting students that they could choose to do one of two things. One, sign an attestation form at the exit that would put students on academic probation on the condition that they abide by all university rules until June 30th, 2025, or until their graduation, whichever comes first. Or the students would be interim, suspended. Losing access to their housing, losing access to campus, losing access to health care on campus, and losing their right to graduation if they are a graduating student."
7. Wide of protesters at Columbia University
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sueda Polat, student organizer:
"We’d like to reiterate that our presence on this encampment was never a security risk. In fact, it bonded members of the Columbia community in unprecedented ways on this campus."
9. Wide of protesters at Columbia University
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sueda Polat, student organizer:
"Earlier today, President Shafiq sent out an email announcing the end of negotiations and declared explicitly that the university will not divest from Israel. In that same email, President Shafiq claimed that we had had constructive dialog regarding the student encampment and made insincere statements regarding the university’s actions. The university’s negotiations evidenced an elementary understanding of the word boycott and divest, which have been at the heart of the student movement and at the heart of our encampment. While the administration offered us a timeline for review of divestment proposals, they refused to give us any commitment that the ultimate decision would be binding."
11. Various of protesters at Columbia University
STORYLINE:
Colleges around the U.S. implored pro-Palestinian student protesters to clear out tent encampments with rising levels of urgency Monday, including an ultimatum from Columbia University for students to sign a form and leave the encampment by the afternoon or face suspension.
Columbia activists defied the 2 p.m. deadline with chants, clapping and drumming from the encampment of more than 300 people. No officials appeared to enter the encampment, with at least 120 tents staying up as the deadline passed.
AP video by Ted Shaffrey
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