Peaceful demonstrations mark third day of University of Iowa protests of Israel-Hamas war

A group of roughly 50 people gathered Sunday afternoon on the third and final day of a demonstration opposing the Israel-Hamas war in a show of solidarity with students across the country.

Again, demonstrators displayed signs around the area urging support for Palestinians and Gaza.

The organizers, a student group known as as the Students for Justice in Palestine, have made several demands of university administrators, including:

• An immediate end to all U.S. military funding to Israel.

• That the University of Iowa fully divest from weapons manufacturers which arm Israel.

• The dissolution of the University of Iowa Police Department.

• The university, the Carver College of Medicine, and the UIHC "make a statement in support" of a ceasefire.

Tension has been low throughout the weekend, with a few mild verbal exchanges with passersby during the Iowans for Palestine protest on the campus Pentacrest Friday afternoon.

That hasn't been the case on other campuses across the country, where hundreds of protesters have been arrested during a wave of recent demonstrations. Police in riot gear arrested 132 people at UCLA in Los Angeles Wednesday night, a day after New York police arrested more than 300 individuals at Columbia University and City College.

At the University of Iowa campus, the group has held conversational sessions about the Israel-Hamas war, a divestment training, a rights training and a Jewish Voice for Peace-led Shabbat this weekend.

Sunday’s scheduled events included:

• 1:30 p.m. — Understanding the Palestinian Struggle with Rima Afifi, a Palestinian-American University of Iowa professor and member of the school’s Center for Human Rights.

• 3:00 p.m. — Music Circle.

• 4:00 p.m. — The history of anti-Zionism at the U of I.

• 6:00 p.m. — Interfaith community town hall.

• 8:00 p.m. — Maghrib prayer and scheduled end of demonstrations.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: University of Iowa protest of Israel-Hamas war stays peaceful