Rutgers Students Plan Pro-Palestine Rally At Brower Commons Friday

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A Rutgers student group called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) said they are planning a large protest at 11 a.m. Friday in the heart of the Rutgers New Brunswick campus to call for a cease-fire in Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The students say an estimated 300 people plan to gather at 11 a.m. Friday on Brower Commons, off College Avenue. The students say they plan to "shut down" Brower Commons, which is the main dining area of campus.

Rutgers University spokeswoman Dory Devlin said the school is aware of Friday's planned protest.

"As they do with all student-run organizations, Rutgers-New Brunswick Student Affairs and RUPD have coordinated with the student group on procedures and guidelines for a free expression event on campus," she said.

"A large protest at Brower Commons, consisting of approximately 300 students, will call on the Rutgers University administration to divest its endowment fund from Israeli apartheid," said the student group, Students for Justice in Palestine. "This action comes after six weeks of Israeli bombardment on Gaza, and one-sided statements from the Rutgers administration expressing sole grief over Israeli loss of life."

Last Friday, Nov. 10, Students for Justice in Palestine-Rutgers held a sit-in to protest the Israeli-Hamas war; see photos on their Twitter account.

They are also the same student group that planned a march down down College Avenue on Oct. 12, the week Israel first invaded Gaza, but called the march off at the last minute due to concerns about their safety: Rutgers Palestinian Group Planned March, But Called It Off Last Minute (Oct. 13)

For that protest, Rutgers campus police shut down College Avenue ahead of time, blocking it to all traffic, but the students called off the protest at the last minute.

The pro-Palestine student group said they called it off because they fear "police surveillance and violence ... and outside groups who doxx students who support Palestine."

"The protest never occurred — not on campus, anyway. Students moved the protest online fearing for their own safety," Dina Sayedahmed, a spokeswoman with the NJ chapter of the Council American Islamic Relations said on Oct. 13.

They held a virtual meeting online instead.