Students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, rallied in support of Palestinian liberation Thursday as similar demonstrations took place across the country.
Dozens of George Mason students gathered at Wilkins Plaza and chanted messages like “bring the whole thing down” and “fight for liberation.”
It was a call to action from students who asked the community to join their mission of supporting a Palestinian statehood.
Students declined to talk to the media.
The group made it clear of its right to “resist for Palestinians living under Zionist occupation.”
University Vice President Paul Allvin told WTOP campuses are important places where people can express their own perspectives.
“This is students exercising constitutionally protected speech,” Allvin said. “This happens at university campuses. It happens at George Mason University and our priority is to assure that no one’s rights are precluded and that nothing unlawful or unsafe happens and that nothing that disrupts the education process happens.”
“We always take planning precautions in the event that something might happen and passions might boil over. We don’t see that happening here today,” he added.
George Mason University has a chapter of the “Students for Justice in Palestine” group.
Its website describes its mission as being to “create a welcoming space for people of all backgrounds and affiliations to be able to hold an open dialogue, exchange ideas, and learn collectively about the history of the Palestinian people and culture, solidarity and intersectionality with other movements worldwide in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, the movement for peace and resolution of the ongoing conflict, and current initiatives and actions around the world pertaining to Palestine.”
