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Vanderbilt University Suspends Anti-Zionist Protesters After Building Takeover, Multiple Arrests Made
Vanderbilt University students occupying an administrative building. All have been suspended and four were arrested for assault and vandalism. Photo: Screenshot/Instagram
Vanderbilt University in Tennessee has suspended over a dozen students belonging to an anti-Zionist group that occupied an administrative building and refused to leave, according to the school’s official newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler.
On Tuesday, the group “Divest Coalition” amassed inside Kirkland Hall, where its members clamored for administrators to reverse its cancellation of a referendum that, if passed, would have allowed the Vanderbilt Student Government to boycott companies linked to Israel. According to The Hustler, administrators made the decision based on the measure’s potential to jeopardize the school’s eligibility for being awarded state contracts, which nonprofits and businesses participating in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel are, per state law, barred from receiving.
The day saw bitter exchanges of words between the students and campus officials. Video footage of their demonstration shows them verbally abusing a Black officer, whom they accused of betraying his racial identity. “Shame on you!” they shouted at him. Someone else said, “You are Black in America, and you’re not standing with the marginalized people of the world. What does that make you?” Another student told the officer that he should take their side because America is committing a genocide of Black Americans, insinuating that Israel is committing a genocide of Palestinians.
Vanderbilt has suspended at least 7 students for occupying the lobby of the chancellor’s office today.
They’re there because the admin cancelled a student BDS referendum. pic.twitter.com/NreEXR3JI9
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) March 26, 2024
Vanderbilt University commented on the matter to The Hustler, explaining that several students “assaulted a Community Service Officer to gain entrance” into Kirkland Hall and “pushed” officials who suggested having a meeting to discuss their concerns. The school paper also reported other disturbing conduct that took place inside the building, including that students relieved themselves in plastic bottles and a young woman removed a sanitary product from her undergarments after claiming that she had exhibited “early symptoms of toxic shock syndrome.” The students have alleged that they are victims of “inhumane treatment.”
At least 16 students have been suspended from school over the incident, a disciplinary sanction which proscribes their being on campus — in residence halls or class — for any reason. Failure to comply with the punishment may result in being trespassed and arrested.
“Student Affairs took a gradual approach to de-escalate the situation,” Vanderbilt University said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “After the students refused to leave, staff made them aware their actions violated university policy and that they would be subject to disciplinary action. After several hours, the university began issuing interim suspensions. Students on interim suspension must leave campus immediately and may not return until further notice, pending the Student Affairs review process.”
The university added that “free expression is a core value at Vanderbilt, as is civil discourse.” It continued: “Dozens of peaceful demonstrations have occurred over the past several months. In consideration of safety and the university’s normal operations, we, as a matter of policy, define time, place, and manner limitations. The safety and well-being of our community is a top priority. The university will take action when our policies are violated, the safety of our campus is jeopardized, and when people intimidate or injure members of our community.”
Vanderbilt University has sent The Algemeiner an additional statement describing the disciplinary sanctions it has levied against the demonstrators. It said that all who participated in the “sit in” are suspended and that three others have been charged with misdemeanor assault for shoving building officials. A fourth who shattered a window was charged with vandalism.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Divest Coalition accused the university of abuse and violating their rights.
“Vanderbilt University has arrested 4 students and suspended over 16 students after harassing, assaulting, abusing them for trying to exercise their free speech rights to advocate for Palestine,” the group said on Wednesday. “Two students have been released, two more are still in jail waiting to be released — all 4 have unjust charges that they will be fighting in court.”
In the statement, Divest Coalition admitted that students relieved themselves in public and attached a photograph of their excretions and other waste.
Vanderbilt University is not the first school to be forced to arrest anti-Zionist protesters for breaking school rules.
In December, dozens of anti-Zionist protesters at Brown University were arrested by campus police for staging an unauthorized protest inside the University Hall administrative building. While being removed from the building, they shouted, “Shame on Brown! Shame on Brown!”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Vanderbilt University Suspends Anti-Zionist Protesters After Building Takeover, Multiple Arrests Made first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.