NYC Volunteers
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the City University of New York (CUNY) Welcome Center in Manhattan on Tuesday for the “People’s Press Conference” and rally against the school’s increased repression and its investments in Israel. While protesters chanted and gave speeches, scuffles broke out as Zionist counter-protesters harassed the crowd. The police responded violently on behalf of the Zionists and arrested protesters who acted in self-defense.
Last April, CUNY made headlines after calling in the police to arrest over 170 people protesting their economic ties to Israel. While Columbia University students arrested the same night were charged with misdemeanors, students from the more working-class, public university CUNY faced harsher consequences. A group of them, known as the CUNY 8, face up to seven years in prison on top of academic disciplinary measures.
At the rally, protesters chanted “400,000 dead, you’re suspending us instead”, “US drones in the sky, Yemen’s missiles will reply”, and an energetic “Death, death to the IDF”, made popular by the UK punk rap duo Bob Vylan at a recent major British music festival.
One CUNY student who had been arrested recounted how “officers illegally forced three students to remove their hijabs while arrested. Officers refused our request for water even after a Palestinian student lost consciousness. This was all sanctioned by CUNY!”
When asked how the mass movement can win the release of the students and get the charges dropped, one suspended CUNY student told The Worker: “Pressure, pressure on CUNY… [to] reinstate students who have been suspended, as well as the reinstatement of faculty who have been fired and an end to the repression across CUNY and new protections.” She also spoke on the need to connect struggles across campuses: “We know that the thing that the oppressor and the enemy does the most is trying to divide the people to separate us, to weaken us. And so what we do very well is connect our struggles across campuses, across struggles, and we make it very clear that our resistance is interconnected no matter where it is.“
A handful of Zionist counterprotesters attempted to disrupt and harass the crowd, shouting obscenities while waving a pathetic display of US and Israeli rags. After counter-protesters walked back and forth between the protesters with police permission, protesters began surrounding the Zionists to stop their movement. The police intervened by barricading protesters in to facilitate the Zionists’ instigation, but the protesters continued to block the Zionists and eventually forced them to stop. By the time the speeches began, the Zionists were silent.
Several arrests were made by the police targeting protesters responding to harassment from the counter-protesters. After Zionists made their way into the crowd of protesters to start a fight, police barreled through the activists and arrested one protester, letting the Zionists off the hook. In another instance, a Zionist walked in the middle of the protest and began filming close to the faces of protesters. When a protester blocked his way, the Zionist swung at him and the protester responded in self-defense. He was immediately arrested by the police, who were then forced to arrest the Zionist as well after the crowd angrily intervened.
Despite the harassment from both Zionists and police, the speakers continued their speeches and chants. “It is our resistance that keeps us safe. Increased repression calls for increased resistance,” one suspended student said, “When they escalate their repression, they will only escalate our resistance!”
Correction made on 07/09/25: It was incorrectly stated that one of the arrested students was also suspended.
Photo credit: The Worker
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