On the anniversary of the massacre committed by Hamas, in which 1,200 Israeli citizens were murdered and another 250 taken hostage, students of many universities took to their campus streets to protest Israel’s position in the ongoing year-long war.
The Drexel Palestine Coalition posted on their social media proposing a “Student Walkout,” prompting students and faculty to leave whatever they were doing to call for a ceasefire publicly on Monday, Oct. 7. The pro-Palestine demonstration began on the lawn facing Schuylkill Yards. It slowly made its way down Market Street before turning on 34th Street and heading towards the University of Pennsylvania, later reaching as far as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. At least ten police officers trailed behind and approximately twenty police cars followed. Some demonstrators were seen making hand gestures while chanting, “PPD, KKK, IOF, they’re all the same.”
While the rally progressed, several people were seen with Israeli flags displayed towards the demonstrators. While both sides were initially calm, aggravation occurred later on. Both parties made offensive gestures at one another, and an outsider yelled, “Bring them home,” referring to the approximately 100 hostages and around 30 bodies held captive in Gaza.
As the protesters marched, they chanted for a ‘student intifada’, a return to before the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, and accused Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania of being complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. Many Lebanese flags were waved alongside those of Palestine, coinciding with the recent Israeli operational development in south Lebanon against Hezbollah.
With many rallies held in several European cities and across the U.S., the gatherings were expected to peak on Oct. 7, the date of the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks. Drexel previously had been the site of an encampment on the Korman Quad in May. Drexel’s interim president, Denis O’ Brien, sent out a preemptive email to all students and faculty on Monday, Oct. 7 warning of the demonstration and noting a Public Safety advisory regarding the expected vehicular and pedestrian traffic along Market Street. In the same email, O’Brien stated to the Drexel community that there would be “ increased visible presence of Drexel Police and Public Safety officers to protect campus spaces and facilities and to ensure the safety both of participants who are exercising their rights to free speech and of passersby alike.”
With the war reaching a full year of its duration, pro-Palestine demonstrations stress the high death toll in Gaza — more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 129 Palestinian journalists have also been killed since the start of the war according to the International Federation of Journalists. There has not been substantial progress in a ceasefire deal. Emotions are expected to run high this week as the anniversary of the attacks falls in the week of significant Jewish holidays — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Simchat Torah.