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00:00Welcome to the People's University for Palestine, reads the sign at the student
00:05encampment at Columbia University on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Tent upon
00:10tent of students camping out in protest over the war in Gaza. They want the
00:16university to divest itself from anything related to Israel. This
00:21encampment started on the morning of April 17th. The university called in the
00:26NYPD to dismantle it and multiple people including 26-year-old master's
00:31student Catherine Elias were arrested. They were quickly released. Catherine's
00:36been camping out here ever since. So a sleeping mat, sleeping bag, pillow, my
00:42keffiyeh. Pretty much everything I have at this point was donated by the
00:46community because all of my property was also destroyed by the police. The
00:51students here are determined and idealistic. I think our positionality
00:57here as students in the United States, where the United States is one of the
01:01largest funders of Israel, one of the largest funders of the genocide
01:04happening in Palestine. We sit in the country that not only funds but also
01:09manufactures and creates a lot of the bombs dropping in Gaza. Every piece of
01:14the weaponry that allows this genocide to continue is being funded actively by
01:20universities like Columbia through their endowments. So the student movement today
01:24is actually building off of the student movement from the 1960s here in the US
01:28and globally, the 1980s against apartheid South Africa and today we're
01:33seeing another spark in the student movement. But there's some discontent
01:36about the encampment. A group of ex-army veterans turned students has gathered on
01:42the steps opposite the encampment. Some of these students have Israeli roots. It
01:48seems like the school has lost control of the situation and nobody really
01:53knows what's going to happen but you know we're not here to provoke anyone. We
01:57saw American flag get burned right outside. A couple of veterans were
02:01assaulted and a couple of my Jewish peers were assaulted and you know we're
02:06just out here to show we love our country. Students in the encampment deny
02:10there's been anti-semitism and emphasize that this is a peaceful movement.
02:16Outside the campus protesters gather to show support. There's a heavy police
02:20presence. The student protesters say they'll keep camping out until their
02:26demands are met.