SYDNEY: Hundreds of people protesting Israel’s war in Gaza rallied at one of Australia’s top universities on Friday demanding it divest from companies with ties to Israel, in a movement inspired by the student occupations sweeping US campuses.
Pro-Palestinian activists set up an encampment last week outside the sandstone main hall at University of Sydney, one of Australia’s largest tertiary institutions.
Similar camps have sprung up at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities.
Unlike in the US, where police have forcibly removed scores of defiant pro-Palestinian protesters at several colleges, protest sites in Australia have been peaceful with scant police presence.
On Friday, protesters rallied to demand University of Sydney divest from companies with ties to Israel, echoing calls from students in the US, Canada and France.
Standing in the chanting crowd of more than 300 with his two-year old son on his shoulders, Matt, 39, said he came to show it was not just students angry at Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“Once you understand what is going on you have a responsibility to try and get involved and raise awareness and show solidarity,” he told Reuters, declining to give his last name.
Several hundred meters away from the Sydney university protest and separated by lines of security guards, hundreds gathered under Australian and Israeli flags to hear speakers say the pro-Palestinian protests made Jewish students and staff feel unsafe on campus.
“There’s no space for anybody else, walking through campus chanting ‘Intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’ it does something, it’s scary,” said Sarah, an academic who declined to give her name for fear of repercussions.
University of Sydney vice chancellor Mark Scott told local media on Thursday the pro-Palestinian encampment could stay on campus in part because there was not the violence seen in the US
While several police cars were parked at the entrance to the university, no police were present at either protest.
Long a stalwart ally of Israel, Australia has become increasingly critical of its conduct in Gaza, where an Australian aid worker was killed in an Israeli attack last month.
Pro-Palestinian protesters said the government had not done enough to push for peace and led the crowd in chants against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government.
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’Show solidarity’: Pro-Palestinian protesters camp across Australian universities
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’Show solidarity’: Pro-Palestinian protesters camp across Australian universities
- Pro-Palestinian activists set up an encampment last week outside the sandstone main hall at University of Sydney
- Similar camps have sprung up at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities
Passenger bus crash in Indonesia kills at least 16 people, official says
- A rescue official in Indonesia says a passenger bus crash has killed at least 16 people on Indonesia’s main island of Java
- The official says a bus carrying 34 people lost control on a toll road just after midnight Monday and struck a concrete barrier before rolling onto its side
JAKARTA: A passenger bus crash killed at least 16 people on Indonesia’s main island of Java just after midnight Monday, officials said.
The bus carrying 34 people lost control on a toll road and struck a concrete barrier before rolling onto its side, said Budiono, a search and rescue agency chief who goes by single name like many Indonesians.
The inter-province bus was traveling from the capital Jakarta to the country’s ancient royal city of Yogyakarta when it overturned while entering a curved exit ramp at the Krapyak toll way in Central Java’s Semarang city, he said.
“The forceful impact threw several passengers and left them trapped against the bus body,” Budiono said.
Police and rescue teams arrived about 40 minutes after the accident and recovered the bodies of six passengers who died at the scene. Another 10 people died on the way to a hospital or while being treated, Budiono said.
The 18 victims being treated at two nearby hospitals included five people in critical condition and 13 in serious condition, he said.
Television news reports showed the yellow bus overturned on its side and surrounded by National Search and Rescue Agency personnel, police and passersby as ambulances transported victims and the dead away from the accident scene.
Witnesses told authorities the bus was traveling at high speed before the driver lost control, Central Java Police Chief Ribut Hari Wibowo said at Dr. Karyadi General Hospital in Semarang where the bodies were being identified.
The driver was a substitute who sustained serious injuries but was able to communicate while under medical care, he said.
“We are still investigating the cause of the crash and questioning the injured substitute driver,” Wibowo said, adding that police planned to test the driver for prohibited substances including drugs.
The bus carrying 34 people lost control on a toll road and struck a concrete barrier before rolling onto its side, said Budiono, a search and rescue agency chief who goes by single name like many Indonesians.
The inter-province bus was traveling from the capital Jakarta to the country’s ancient royal city of Yogyakarta when it overturned while entering a curved exit ramp at the Krapyak toll way in Central Java’s Semarang city, he said.
“The forceful impact threw several passengers and left them trapped against the bus body,” Budiono said.
Police and rescue teams arrived about 40 minutes after the accident and recovered the bodies of six passengers who died at the scene. Another 10 people died on the way to a hospital or while being treated, Budiono said.
The 18 victims being treated at two nearby hospitals included five people in critical condition and 13 in serious condition, he said.
Television news reports showed the yellow bus overturned on its side and surrounded by National Search and Rescue Agency personnel, police and passersby as ambulances transported victims and the dead away from the accident scene.
Witnesses told authorities the bus was traveling at high speed before the driver lost control, Central Java Police Chief Ribut Hari Wibowo said at Dr. Karyadi General Hospital in Semarang where the bodies were being identified.
The driver was a substitute who sustained serious injuries but was able to communicate while under medical care, he said.
“We are still investigating the cause of the crash and questioning the injured substitute driver,” Wibowo said, adding that police planned to test the driver for prohibited substances including drugs.
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