US: Columbia University extends deadline for pro-Palestine protesters to clear encampments

United States’s Columbia University, on Wednesday, April 24, said that it was making “important progress” with pro-Palestinian student protesters who set up a tent encampment and that it was extending a deadline to clear out the tents.

Student protesters “have committed to dismantling and removing a significant number of tents”, the university said in a statement.

A smaller encampment remained on campus Wednesday morning, reported PTI.

Several university students in the US are protesting, demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that are enabling the Israel-Hamas war.

Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik, in a statement on Tuesday, set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement with students to clear the encampment.

The statement said that the institute will ensure that those not affiliated with Columbia will leave and only Columbia University students will be participating in the protest.

“Student protesters also will comply with city fire department requirements and have taken steps to make the encampment welcome to all and have prohibited discriminatory or harassing language,” the statement said.

Protests at US universities have been bubbling for months but kicked into a higher gear after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out at Columbia were arrested on Thursday.