See video, photos: Protesters supporting Palestine and Israel rally at LSU Friday
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Louisiana State University students rallied in support of Palestine on Friday, May 3, at Patrick F. Taylor Hall. The event drew a pro-Israel counterprotest.
The Students for Justice in Palestine at Louisiana State University and LSU SDS invited students to walk out and rally for Palestine. The groups said in a release to the media that they want LSU to cut ties with Israel and disclose monetary ties to Israeli organizations.
According to a 2020 news release from LSU, the university partners with the GoMed consortium, for one of three U.S.-Israel Energy Centers. Partners upon the launch included "the University of Louisiana system, Argonne National Laboratory, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, the Israel Institute of Technology, the Geological Survey of Israel, and Delek Drilling." The five-year project included LSU on projects in petroleum and chemical engineering tied to gas and petrochemicals.
This is part of a string of protests at colleges and universities across the country tied to the Israel-Hamas War and conflict in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Associated Press, police have arrested over 2,000 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the country. Although that wasn’t the case here at LSU, it shows how far students are willing to go.
“I feel it in my heart, I feel a physical pain watching all these people die and nothing is being done to stop it,” Jessi Nickens, LSU student protester said.
President Biden addressed the protests in a speech on Thursday, May 2. He said, "violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is."
At LSU, pro-Palestinian protesters could be heard saying, "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
Demonstrator Mark Houston is not an LSU student, but he says he can’t stop what’s happening overseas, but he sure can pray about it.
“I’m pro-America. I am against Hamas, but there is a spirit of confusion going on in America right now. I pray against it, and I pray that it stops today," Houston said.
Nickens said she’s against the ongoing war.
“I’m just against kids and families dying being separated, displaced,” Nickens said.
She voiced concerns about campuses, raided by police officers at Loyola and Tulane.
She said if it gets to the point where officers must intervene, they should be civil and not forceful.
"From the videos, I saw, they were not protecting their students," said Nickens. "They were trampling their students."
Counter-protesters also gathered to support Israel.
Read a statement from Gov. Jeff Landry:
It brings me great pride to see the patriotic counter protestors on LSU’s campus today. Our state is filled with individuals like these who are proud to be Americans!
Thank you to our men and women in law enforcement who are working to ensure these protests stay peaceful.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry
Earlier this week, local and state police in New Orleans raided pro-Palestine protesters' camp at Tulane.
BRProud has reached out to LSU for comment about the protests.