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Cops In Chaos Over How To Respond To Palestine Action Protests

July 15, 2025 The Canary. , , , ,
The UK-wide protests on Saturday 12 July against the proscription of Palestine Action have exposed a stark divide in the policing response across different forces. Raids and repression to different degrees across the country are indicative of the chaos the government has unleashed with its order that permits police to treat protestors holding cardboard signs as if they were terrorists. The spectrum of responses on Saturday ranged from a hands-off approach in Kendal and Derry, to surreal repression in Cardiff, where cops locked protestors up, raided their homes, and tested their food cupboards with something appearing to be a Geiger counter.

Dozens Arrested In London Protests Against Ban On Palestine Action

July 13, 2025 Emad Almarshahi, Hod Hod. , , , ,
British police have arrested 46 pro-Palestine demonstrators during a protest in Parliament Square, marking the second consecutive weekend of unrest over the government’s decision to outlaw the activist group Palestine Action. According to IRNA, the Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrests on Saturday, citing prior warnings that publicly supporting the banned group could be deemed a criminal offense under UK law. Last weekend’s demonstration led to 29 arrests, and authorities said they had cautioned participants about the legal implications. The banned organization, Palestine Action, has gained prominence for its direct actions targeting arms companies linked to “Israel”—especially those involved in the ongoing war in Gaza, which rights advocates have described as genocidal.

A Model Anti-Doxing Law?

July 13, 2025 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
A coalition of free speech and press freedom organizations warns that model legislation intended to fight “doxing” could have “devastating consequences" for newsgathering and dissent. “Journalists already face escalating threats for doing their jobs. A vague anti-doxing law could be used to criminalize the truth,” declared Society of Professional Journalists Executive Director Caroline Hendrie.  The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), established in 1892, is comprised of “more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands,” according to the ULC. The group disseminates “uniform state laws” where such “uniformity is desirable and practical.” 

Swell Of Support For Pro-Palestine Student Yunseo Chung

June 2, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
Following a court hearing on Thursday, May 29, a federal judge extended an order blocking Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting 21-year-old college student Yunseo Chung. Chung, like fellow Columbia students and graduates Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Ranjani Srinivasan, has been targeted by the Trump administration amid its broader attacks on immigrants, institutions of higher education, and the pro-Palestine movement. The temporary restraining order on Chung’s detention by ICE is now extended until her next court hearing on June 5.

Hundreds March Outside ICE Facility Where Mahmoud Khalil Remains

May 25, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
On the morning of Thursday, May 22, detained Columbia graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil had an immigration hearing after US officials allowed him to meet his 1-month-old son, Deen, for the first time. As Khalil testified in an immigration court in rural Jena, Louisiana, dozens rallied outside of the immigration detention and court building, protesting against the continued detention of Khalil. Khalil has been in ICE custody since he was arrested outside of his own home in New York City on March 8. In the months since his arrest, support for Khalil’s release has not abated, with supporters rallying on Thursday in cities across the country, including New York City.

Harvard Sues White House Over Foreign Student Ban

May 24, 2025 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , ,
Harvard University announced on 23 May that it is suing the White House for what it called “clear retaliation” against the school for “exercising its First Amendment rights” after the government barred international student enrollment. US President Donald Trump has sought to punish colleges and universities where student protests against Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza have taken place. International students are a large source of income for many US colleges and universities. On Thursday, Trump blocked Harvard's ability to enroll international students, requested that Harvard's international student records be provided within 72 hours, and said those currently enrolled should transfer to another school or leave the country.

Zionist Militants Responsible For ICE Arrest Of Pro-Palestine Student

May 14, 2025 Robert Inlakesh, MintPress News. , , , , , ,
A Massachusetts court ruled that the detention of a former student who expressed pro-Palestine views was unconstitutional and that it was a punitive measure triggered almost solely by a complaint from the Zionist militant group Betar. Late last week, a judge ruled that a former student at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), detained unlawfully by ICE, be released, providing the first court admission that Zionist extremist groups are working with U.S. authorities to violate free speech rights. The former student in question is Efe Ercelik, a Turkish national who entered the U.S. on an F-1 student visa. After a physical altercation with a Jewish student during a protest in late 2023, the American corporate media and pro-Israel groups pointed to his case as evidence of rampant attacks against Jewish students on campus.

NYU Law Students Refused To Sign Away Their Right To Protest

May 6, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
Pro-palestine law students at New York University have secured a major victory against the university administration’s attempts to silence protests. On May 4, the NYU administration confirmed that 31 law students who had been barred from campus and prohibited from sitting for final exams, unless they sign away their right to protest, are now permitted to take their exams. “This type of public pressure, the backlash that [the administration] got from not allowing students to sit for exams, was not something that they expected,” said one of the affected NYU law students, who spoke to Peoples Dispatch about this latest decision.

Meet The Think Tanks Behind MAGA’s New Free Speech Crackdown

May 1, 2025 Robert Inlakesh, MintPress News. , , , , ,
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump—and many of his most prominent right-wing supporters—are directly linked to some of the most radically pro-war, pro-Israel organizations in the country. These connections form a sprawling web of lobbying groups, tech billionaires, and media figures who consistently promote Israeli interests above those of ordinary Americans. Why has the pro-Trump right suddenly pivoted from branding itself as a bastion of free speech to openly supporting censorship and state-led crackdowns? This MintPress News investigation uncovers a donor-driven advocacy network driving that ideological shift.

Faculty Rally Nationwide For Free Speech And Free Tuition

April 24, 2025 Barbara Madeloni, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
Faculty-student pairs set up “anti-fascist office hours” at three locations on the Northwestern University campus. Faculty, students, and staff created anti-fascist art at the University of Hawaii. American Association of University Professors members combined membership drives with tabling about the critical issues facing higher education on 30 campuses. And in New York City, 4,000 people rallied to defend higher education from Trump’s attacks, chanting, “ICE took our students, we want them back!” These were a few of the 170 events on campuses across the country April 17 in the second annual Coalition for Action in Higher Education day of action, organized under the banner of “Free Higher Education.”

Harvard Refuses To Comply With Trump Administration

April 19, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
After Columbia University fully capitulated to the Trump administration’s demands of disciplinary measures against pro-Palestine students and censorship against academic departments, the Trump administration set its sights on other institutions of higher education, one of these being Harvard University. On April 11, Trump officials sent Harvard a similar demand letter to the one Columbia received on March 13. But Harvard’s response to Trump’s demands has been markedly different to Columbia’s – on April 14, Harvard’s President Alan M. Garber issued a bold response: Harvard would “not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

Protesters Denounce ICE ‘Abduction’ Of Mohsen Mahdawi

April 16, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
On April 14, Palestinian Columbia University student and leading pro-Palestine activist Mohsen Mahdawi was detained by immigration agents as he attended an interview as part of his application for US citizenship in Colchester, Vermont. Mahdawi is the second Palestinian Columbia University student activist to be kidnapped by immigration authorities, after Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest which has earned international attention as demands for his release grow. With Mahdawi’s detention, pro-Palestine groups have renewed calls to end Trump’s attacks on students and free speech.

New Orleans Rallies For Mahmoud Khalil Outside ICE Field Office

April 13, 2025 Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
New Orleans, LA – Around 60 people gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in New Orleans to protest the illegal detention of Mahmoud Khalil. Attendees rallied around speakers and chanted as a judge – hours away in rural Jena, Louisiana – would decide if Khalil could be deported for his activism for Palestine. Speaking for the Palestinian Youth Movement, Majdi Jaber said, “This ICE office that we’re outside right now directs operations in all of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama. Every day for the last month, these people have chosen to do nothing about Mahmoud’s incarceration.”

Trump Administration Revokes Hundreds Of Student Visas

April 9, 2025 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
The Trump administration has reportedly revoked hundreds of student visas, amid a widening crackdown on the U.S. Palestine movement. In recent days, dozens of schools have announced that draconian measures by the Trump administration have targeted some of their students. The list includes UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Ohio State, Minnesota State University, the University of Kentucky, Northeastern, and Harvard. Last month Secretary of State Marco Rubio guessed that he had revoked about 300 visas since arriving in office. “I don’t know actually if it’s primarily student visas,” Rubio told reporters.

Thousands Rally In Washington, DC For Palestine

April 8, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
“We are the majority,” declare organizers of a mass demonstration outside the United States Capitol building opposing the genocide in Gaza and Trump’s attacks on students Thousands rallied in the heart of the US capital Washington, DC on April 5 to oppose Trump administration attacks on free speech and student activism, and demand an end to Israel’s relentless genocidal onslaught against Gaza. Students, organizers, journalists, artists, and workers came to Washington, DC from across the country to call for the release of pro-Palestine students such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk from ICE detention and to declare their fearlessness in the face of Trump’s attacks.
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