Scholar at US university protest: I never imagined we could end up in prison
Aro Velmet, associate professor of history at the University of Southern California, told ERR's "Ringvaade" program that the arrests of peaceful students and faculty at the university were completely unjustified. Velmet, who spoke with students at the time of the arrests, said he would never have imagined that they would end up in prison.
Large demonstrations in support of Palestine are taking place on university campuses in major U.S. cities.
"The students have been in a tent camp on the university's territory since Wednesday, to pressure the university to disclose its investment in the arms industry used to kill civilians in Gaza, to pressure the university to cut these ties, and to end exchange programs with Israeli universities," Velmet said.
"Los Angeles police arrested 90 students and three faculty members, including the associate professor, on Wednesday," he said.
"I, along with the more than 400 teachers who have signed the petition to the university's president, question why such arrests occurred. In my view, the arrests were completely unjustified, as there was no threat to public order. A couple of hundred people in the middle of the campus chanted, did yoga exercises, and listened to various thematic lectures."
At the moment of the arrest, he was standing with a colleague talking to students. "I would never have imagined that we would end up in prison," Velmet said.
"My university made a clear choice with this move, but on the contrary, these arrests have made people angrier, leading to the opposite of what the university wants, more protests and, if anything, more activism. Some universities are starting to respond to student demands, but in general, universities are behaving very differently," he said.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Kristina Kersa
Source: Ringvaade
