Rutgers Palestinian Group Planned March, But Called It Off Last Minute

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A pro-Palestine solidarity march was planned to take place Thursday afternoon on the Rutgers main campus in New Brunswick — but student organizers called it off at the last minute.

The protest was organized by a Rutgers student group called Students for Justice in Palestine, which held many similar protests across American college campuses Thursday, as the Israel-Hamas war rages.

"The protest never occurred — not on campus, anyway. Students moved the protest online fearing for their own safety," said Dina Sayedahmed, a spokeswoman with the NJ chapter of the Council American Islamic Relations. "Palestinian students/students sympathetic to Palestine felt threatened due to President Holloway’s statement."

On their website, Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers accused Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway of taking an "explicitly pro-Israel stance."

The students wrote Holloway "only named in detail the violence enacted on Israelis and attended a vigil put on by the Rutgers Hillel without giving the same support to his Palestinian students. Although he included Gaza in his 'mourning' at the end of his statement, he once again neglected to acknowledge, let alone show sympathy for, the Palestinian community during a time in which we have experienced more than 1,200 casualties within a span of four days."

Before the march, Rutgers Police said in a public alert on their Facebook page that College Avenue would be shut down for about three hours, starting at 1 p.m.

Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said the protest did take place, and there were no altercations reported or arrests made. However, Patch was unable to learn approximately how many people attended, or if there were any counter-protesters there in support of Israel.

"In light of this egregious behavior from the administration, Students for Justice in Palestine cannot confidently and safely hold our event originally scheduled for today," wrote the student group Thursday. "We fear that in doing so we would place our community members at risk and put them in danger of police surveillance and violence, in addition to potential altercations with supporters of Israel emboldened by President Holloway’s statement and outside groups who doxx students who support Palestine."

Rutgers president Holloway sent this message to the school community Wednesday about the Israel-Hamas war.

The same group held many similar protests across college campuses Thursday afternoon, including at Arizona State University, University of Arizona, University of Binghamton in New York and the University of Virginia.

The student group called for Thursday to be a “day of resistance” in support of Palestine on college campuses across the U.S.

On some campuses, pro-Israel protesters showed up and encounters between the two groups turned hostile, such as at CUNY-Hunter College in New York City, where one protester shouted "Israel, go to hell" and one of the dozen pro-Israel supporters screamed "Terrorists!" Read more: Pro-Palestine Rally At Hunter College Draws Over 100 Protesters