UAW chief criticizes mass arrests of pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses

United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain criticized the mass arrests of pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses across the country, while also emphasizing the union’s call for a ceasefire in the Israel- Hamas in Gaza.

“The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those who exercise their right to protest, strike or speak out against injustice,” Fain wrote Wednesday. on social platform. “Our union has been calling for a ceasefire for six months. This war is wrong, and this response against students and academic workers, many of them members of the UAW, is wrong.”

Hundreds of students and teachers have been arrested over the past two weeks as pro-Palestine protests raged on college campuses across the country. Demonstrators took to the streets and university courtyards and formed camps to protest Israel’s campaign during the war in Gaza and call for the suspension of US aid to Israel.

Tensions rose in New York and California on Tuesday night, resulting in the arrests of hundreds of protesters.

The New York Police Department on Tuesday broke through a second-story window of a Columbia building that had been seized by protesters. Police released the protesters and videos quickly circulated on social media showing the arrests at Columbia, which served as ground zero for the mass university protests that quickly spread across the country.

New York Mayor Eric Adams confirmed on Thursday that around 300 people had been arrested.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, counterprotesters clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters when they attempted to dismantle the encampment on that campus. Los Angeles Police Department officers responded, but it was not immediately clear how many arrests were made and whether there were any injuries.

Fain said Wednesday that the UAW is calling for the release of students and staff.

“And if you can’t handle the outcry, stop supporting this war,” Fain added.

The UAW supported a long-term ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in December. The war has been raging for nearly seven months since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, during which the militant group killed around 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed more than 34 thousand Palestiniansaccording to local health officials.