FIRST PRO-PALESTINE AFRICAN ENCAMPMENT POPS UP AT WITS UNIV.

In what may be the first African university encampment in solidarity with Palestine, students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly known as ‘Wits University’ or simply ‘Wits,’ set up their tents on campus on 13 May.

By doing so, they have joined thousands of their peers in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea and the United States.

Some student encampments call for universities to divest from companies that support Israel, which occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Students also call for an immediate ceasefire to the military onslaught and siege taking place in Gaza that have cost the lives of more than 35,000 people, most of whom are children and women.

Police have cracked down on US student encampments, with about 2,800 people arrested on more than 60 campuses, according to a New York Times tally.