The original group of hunger strikers at Princeton University decided to end their radical form of protesting after 10 days when it became clear the elite college was not going to give in to their demands anytime soon.
In a post on Princeton Divest Now’s Instagram story on Sunday, the group said the 13 protesters ended the hunger strike out of “health concerns.”
PDN further revealed the original 13 protesters were replaced with seven new hunger strikers “in the tradition of rotary hunger strikes.” PDN reported there were an additional nine people who were participating in a “solidarity fast.”
‘Since that time, the university has failed to actually engage with our demands …’
Prior to ending the first “wave” of the protest, a spokesman for the group gave their disappointment in Princeton not agreeing to their demands.
“Since we began our hunger strike, we’ve had simple demands: We want a meeting and good faith negotiations with the university to talk about disclosure and divestment from companies involved in the Israeli occupation. And we want amnesty from legal and disciplinary charges for students that have been arrested for peaceful protests,” he said.
“Since that time, the university has failed to actually engage with our demands and they’ve made clear that they still fail to acknowledge that a genocide is even occurring… it has failed to allow the hunger strikers to end their strike by meeting our very simple requests,” he continued.
In addition to not eating, the protesters had been staying outside on campus property. But in order to avoid a sweep by law enforcement, the group agreed to not set up tents. This resulted in protesters and their supporters having to set up improvised shelters with tarps and umbrellas to keep out of the rain.
“On the third day of Princeton’s Hunger Strike for Gaza, as the temperatures fall and rain continues, [Princeton] admin refuses still to allow our strikers to have tents, leaving them huddled under umbrellas, vulnerable and unsafe. Shameful and cruel,” a supporter of the group posted on X.
The reason for doing a hunger strike was to highlight the food insecurity in the Gaza Strip. Tons of aid items have been delivered to Gaza, but it has been marred by Hamas stealing the supplies for itself or reselling it at high prices. Hamas also took credit for attacking the Kerem Shalom border crossing, a vital crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter the southern end of the Gaza Strip. The attacks have resulted in the crossing point being closed for different periods of time, delaying aid going into the war zone.
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