Protests and counterprotests over the bloody war in the Middle East erupted at colleges across the five boroughs Thursday as supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian advocates clashed over the ongoing violence that broke out last week.
Student groups at Brooklyn College, Hunter College and Columbia University, among others, coordinated protests largely intended to condemn Israel, but were met with counterprotesters in often tense exchanges. The rallies throughout the city came on the eve of a large protest planned in Times Square and heightened security concerns particularly among the city’s Jewish and Muslim communities.
‘Everyone wants to end this bloodshed.’
A crowd of 200 Brooklyn College students gathered outside the school’s entrance draped in Palestinian flags and traditional keffiyehs, chanting, “The people are occupied. Resistance is justified.”
Beside them stood a little-known network of Orthodox Jewish men and their sons condemning the Israeli government’s actions in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
“We cannot just look at what happened now or the day before,” said Joseph Cohen, an Orthodox member of the group. Cohen, 35, was born and raised in Brooklyn. “Everyone wants to end this bloodshed. But in order to bring a solution, you have to understand the full scope of the thing.”
About 10 counter protesters waving Israeli flags stood several feet away. Both groups were sectioned off by NYPD barricades. More than 50 law enforcement officials were stationed within a three-block radius of the rally.
Several people drove past the rally on Bedford Avenue, rolling their windows down to blast Israeli and Palestinian music.
Scarves in solidarity
At Hunter College later in the afternoon, about 200 people turned out to a rally for Palestinian rights and resistance organized by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance, a CUNY Hunter College student group.
More than half the crowd wore keffiyehs — traditional Palestinian woven headscarves — after the…
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