Students at the Rhode Island School of Design have staged a sit-in at several buildings in downtown Providence, joining the wave of pro-Palestine protests sweeping American college campuses. The action is led by the RISD Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP), who have called for the university to divest from Israel in response to its escalating military campaign in Gaza.
Citing Columbia University’s Gaza solidarity encampment as inspiration, 22 students and one non-student member of the Providence community earlier this week occupied an administrative and academic building in downtown Providence. One building at 20 Washington Place has been declared “Fathi Ghaben Place,” in honor of the prominent Palestinian painter and educator who died in Gaza in February after unsuccessful appeals to the Israeli authority to obtain medical aid outside the enclave.
