Students set up encampment at UR to push for Gaza ceasefire amid U.S. college movements

More than a dozen students gathered at an encampment at the University of Rochester Tuesday morning to protest Israel's invasion of Gaza, amid rising tensions and arrests at campuses across the state, and other parts of the U.S.

Protesters were calling for a complete ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas war with more than a half-dozen tents set up at the Wilson Quad at the River Campus in the early part of the push.

"A permanent ceasefire, a lasting ceasefire, which means stop killing on both sides, and academic divestment," said UR student Omar Darwesh.

Calls have grown by protesters across several campuses for academic institutions to end investments in companies that profit from the Israel-Hamas war, including at Columbia University. Similar pushes have been seen at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at some schools in California.

Unlike recent unrest seen at other New York schools, students were making signs and setting up tents.

Per rules laid out in an announcement by the university, students must clear out during events such as the Springfest Weekend, which is planned to start on Friday.

The university said it was monitoring the situation in a Tuesday release, and didn't immediately return the Democrat and Chronicle's requests for comment.

Some schools, including Columbia University, have shifted their on-campus schedules as situations have escalated.

Over 100 protesters were arrested on Thursday at Columbia University. On Monday, over 150 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at New York University in Manhattan. Dozens were also arrested at Yale University during demonstrations, both students and non-students.

The Democrat and Chronicle reached out to Hillel, a Jewish student group at the University of Rochester, for comment for this story.

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: University of Rochester protest: Students build camp, push ceasefire