Politics & Government

Peaceful Protestors Converge On UA Campus Amid War In Gaza

Here's what we saw and heard today at a protest on the University of Alabama campus.

(Ryan Phillips, Patch.com)

TUSCALOOSA, AL β€” Several hundred students and demonstrators gathered on the plaza at the University of Alabama's Student Center Wednesday afternoon, with two large groups peacefully at odds over their views on the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Palestine.


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The University of Alabama Police Department had a visible presence at the scene of the protest, which comes amid demonstrations on college campuses across the country. Most notably, this comes amid large-scale protests at places like Columbia University in New York and UCLA.

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In Los Angeles, for instance, UCLA opted to cancel classes after violent clashes involving demonstrators and police.

Fortunately, there were no arrests, no violence or destruction of property on the UA campus Tuesday, as the two groups mostly held signs, waved flags and chanted phrases sympathetic to their individual sides of the issue.

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A large group of protestors, some with red, white, black and green Palestinian flags, shouted rallying cries such as "Free Palestine," while others on the opposite side of the plaza waving Israeli and American flags countered the protestors with their own shouts of "USA! USA!"

Ryan Phillips, Patch.com

Signs in support of Palestine read phrases such as "Tide Against Genocide," "Opposing Genocide Is Not Radical," "Divest From Death," and "UA Students For A Free Palestine."

In a rare moment of compromise that has since gone viral on social media, both sides at one point could also be heard chanting "F*** Joe Biden."

Some even took the opportunity to troll both sides of the issue, with one young man holding a sign that read "It's Finals Week. Go Back To Class."


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