All posts tagged: sitin

RISD Students Stage Sit-in for Gaza

RISD Students Stage Sit-in for Gaza

Students at the Rhode Island School of Design have staged a sit-in at several buildings in downtown Providence, joining the wave of pro-Palestine protests sweeping American college campuses. The action is led by the RISD Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP), who have called for the university to divest from Israel in response to its escalating military campaign in Gaza.  Citing Columbia University’s Gaza solidarity encampment as inspiration, 22 students and one non-student member of the Providence community earlier this week occupied an administrative and academic building in downtown Providence. One building at 20 Washington Place has been declared “Fathi Ghaben Place,” in honor of the prominent Palestinian painter and educator who died in Gaza in February after unsuccessful appeals to the Israeli authority to obtain medical aid outside the enclave.  Related Articles RSJP wrote in a manifesto posted to social media that its members “are not comfortable learning and participating within an institution that touts decolonial rhetoric, boasting a decolonized curriculum, yet refuses to initiate and act upon colonial practices of giving land back and …

Chinese scientist who published COVID-19 virus sequence allowed back in his lab after sit-in protest 

Chinese scientist who published COVID-19 virus sequence allowed back in his lab after sit-in protest 

BEIJING —  The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after he spent days locked outside, sitting in protest. Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post on Wednesday, just past midnight, that the medical center that hosts his lab had “tentatively agreed” to allow him and his team to return and continue their research for the time being. “Now, team members can enter and leave the laboratory freely,” Zhang wrote in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. He added that he is negotiating a plan to relocate the lab in a way that doesn’t disrupt his team’s work with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which hosts Zhang’s lab. Zhang and his team were suddenly told they had to leave their lab for renovations on Thursday, setting off the dispute, he said in an earlier post that was later deleted. On Sunday, Zhang began a sit-in protest outside his lab after he found he was locked out, a sign …

Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Stage British Museum Sit-In over BP Deal

Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Stage British Museum Sit-In over BP Deal

On February 11, pro-Palestinian protestors recently staged a sit-in at the British Museum over its 10-year deal with BP. Last December, the museum announced a £50 million ($63.3 million) sponsorship deal with BP, funding that is used for the refurbishment and redisplay of the museum’s permanent collection over a 10-year span. Trustees of the board raised ethical and safety concerns behind the scenes about the deal, citing conflicts of interest involving board chair George Osborne and two other board members with connections to BP. Related Articles The group Energy Embargo for Palestine posted on the social media platform X a reference to the news that BP was one of six companies granted gas licenses by Israel on October 30 last year. “We will not watch idly as energy companies based in Britain fuels Israel’s colonial genocide,” the group wrote. Energy Embargo for Palestine said it organized the event with Palestine Solidarity Campaign. According to the Telegraph, the Metropolitan Police was notified of the protest but “did not attend.” BP’s support of the British Museum goes …

Stanford students protest new ban on overnight sit-in camping

Stanford students protest new ban on overnight sit-in camping

Students at Stanford University are protesting a new school ban on overnight sit-in camping. Pro-Palestinian students protesting the Israel-Hamas war who have camped outside for 112 days have called for supporters to rally against the ban after it was announced by the university on Thursday night. In a statement Thursday, the university said it would no longer permit overnight displays and camping “based on concerns for the physical safety of our community.” Strong winds from a storm last weekend blew down tents and since then, students have placed chairs in the area, “taking the space another group was using,” the university wrote in the Stanford Report. The university said it has a policy that prohibits overnight camping unless it is specifically permitted by the school. “The university has allowed overnight camping in White Plaza since the events of October 7 out of a desire to support the peaceful expression of free speech in the ways that students choose to exercise that expression,” the notice said. Stanford said its level of concern has risen to a …

Protesters in bed during an eight-week sit-in: John Walmsley’s best photograph | Art and design

Protesters in bed during an eight-week sit-in: John Walmsley’s best photograph | Art and design

Guildford School of Art had a good reputation for photojournalism, but when I got there, I found there were no photojournalists on the staff. You just had to get on with it yourself. During my final year, I photographed the 1968 anti-Vietnam war demo outside the US Embassy in London. I learned on the job. There was a lot of dissatisfaction, so when I found out there was going to be a meeting of students to discuss asking to improve things, I went along. It soon became clear that not only did the students believe the place needed a shakeup, many of the staff felt the same way. However, the governors refused to take us seriously. In those days, these places were run by local councillors who had no feeling for the young or for the arts. When we suggested they were the wrong people to be running it, we were just informed: “Do what you’re told, we’re in charge.” It was clear we needed to make a stand, and that’s how the sit-in began. …

Five arrested at King’s Cross in London after pro-Palestinian sit-in banned | Israel-Hamas war

Five people have been arrested during a pro-Palestinian sit-in at King’s Cross station in London after the demonstration was banned. The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said he had given an order to allow police to stop the demonstration on Friday evening under section 14a of the Public Order Act 1986. It was later announced that protesters would also be prevented from gathering outside the Israeli embassy in London over the weekend. On Friday evening, scores of people could still be seen outside King’s Cross station on social media. One video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, appears to show a man draped in a Palestinian flag shouting “free, free Palestine” while being carried away from the station by three officers. Others appear to show the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea” being shouted with demonstrators replying “Palestine will be free”. In videos, protesters can be seen sitting on the station concourse chanting “ceasefire now”, “free, free Palestine” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians”. A banner accusing Israel …