London — Protests in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip have swept across college campuses in the United States in recent weeks, but they've also spread rapidly around the world.
Demonstrations have cropped up on campuses at major universities across the Arab and Western world as the war grinds on. Below is a look at where some of the larger protests have taken shape.
Lebanon
In Lebanon, hundreds of students gathered at university campuses across the country's capital Beirut this week. Video posted online from the American University of Beirut showed demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and posters emblazoned with messages demanding the university cut all business ties with Israel.
"This is not just about Palestinians, of course — it is, but it's also about what's happening to us in our own country," Karine Ballout, a 23-year-old Lebanese student at the university, told CBS News on Thursday. "We are asking for the immediate end to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide on the Palestinians, and also for the immediate end of the U.S.-backed Israeli aggressions on Lebanon."
Israel has engaged in a firefight with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally that's supported by Iran, since the conflict erupted on Oct. 7. The conflict was triggered by a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel that resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 individuals and the capture of around 240 others as hostages. Currently, there are still 100 individuals, including five U.S. citizens, believed to be alive and held captive in Gaza.
"We were definitely influenced by the demonstrations in the U.S., especially Columbia University," shared Rayyan Kilani, a 21-year-old student at the American University, with the Reuters news agency.
Jordan
Thousands of protestors have also taken to the streets in Jordan, a country that shares a border with Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians since the outbreak of the conflict, including students from various universities.
DAWN, an organization dedicated to human rights in the Middle East, reported that at least nine students have been detained and five have been expelled or suspended for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Jordan since Oct. 7.
"While King Abdullah is publicly condemning the conflict in Gaza to the global community, he is not allowing Jordanians the same freedom to express their opinions," stated DAWN's Senior Consultant Jamal Al Tahat in a press release issued in March.
United Kingdom
Large-scale protests have been held on university campuses throughout the United Kingdom since the commencement of the conflict, including at Oxford University, Newcastle University, Warwick University, and University College London, among others.
At University College London, protesters have called for the school to sever its link with Tel Aviv University and to cut all economic ties with weapons manufacturers they say are supporting Israel's war effort.
"Our demands are basically to demand of UCL to end its complicity in what we see as a genocide in Gaza … to demand an academic boycott because Tel Aviv, like many other Israeli universities, is embedded in the Israeli military establishment," Bushra, a 24-year-old UCL master's student who only gave her first name, told CBS News on Thursday. "UCL has collaborations with BAE Systems, with Lockheed Martin — there has been no statement about the ethical nature of these partnerships."
Bushra said she stood in solidarity with U.S. protesters as they face police crackdowns on some campuses, but she stressed that the focus should be on Gaza.
"Activists at Columbia have said the same thing," she told CBS News. "Whatever oppression they face is not the tiniest fraction of the suffering that the people in Palestine are facing."
France
At France's renowned Sciences Po Paris university, protesters have clashed with riot police over the last week, with several dozen officers entering the school to clear out about 60 protesters who had set up an encampment, according to Le Monde newspaper.
During the week, the Sciences Po Palestine Committee, the group behind the organization of the protests, shared a map outlining the locations of planned demonstrations against the conflict in Gaza at various universities throughout France. View the map here.
The movement is gaining momentum in France as the Sciences Po Palestine Committee stated in an Instagram post, "While American universities' students are being repressed, the movement is spreading throughout France."
Australia
In Australia, sit-in protests have emerged in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra, resembling the tent encampments seen at U.S. universities. Students in Australia are advocating for their universities to divest from Israel and to disclose and sever connections with arms manufacturers that have ties to Israel, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Similarly to some U.S. campuses, the Australian Union of Jewish Students expressed concerns on Wednesday, noting that Jewish students have faced targeting and pressure to publicly declare their political beliefs during university events and classes. The organization emphasized the escalating vilification of Jewish students.
Canada
Protesters have taken to the streets in Toronto, demanding their university to divest from assets that support Israeli apartheid, occupation, and illegal settlement in Palestine. The activists are echoing similar calls made by others around the world to end financial ties that perpetuate the conflict.
