Arab mob attacked peaceful demonstration in
San Francisco State University
Is SFU became a center of Muslim extremists?
The head of San Francisco State University asked the District Attorney's Office on Monday to prosecute pro-Palestinian demonstrators who crashed a pro-peace, pro-Israel rally on campus last week.
University President Robert A. Corrigan's request stems from a May 7 pro-Israel rally disrupted by a handful of screaming counter-demonstrators, who ripped down Israeli flags and cornered a group of organizers against a wall. The tense situation was captured on security cameras.
"The only thing stopping violence and chaos was an incredible police presence," said Dikla Tuchman, 20, a member of the Jewish group Hillel, that sponsored the event.
"We were stuck there against the wall for 45 minutes, it was complete verbal assault," she said. "They were screaming out 'F--- Israel', 'Die Jews,' 'Get off our campus.' "
Corrigan condemned the disruption and asked that a hate crimes prosecutor help the university bring the offenders to justice.
"In my 14 years as president of this university, I have never been as deeply distressed and angered by something that happened on this campus as I am by the events of last week," he wrote.
District Attorney Terence Hallinan, reached at his home late Monday, said he had not been notified of Corrigan's request, but would respond.
On April 9, a large group of Jewish students, faculty and community members held a prayer vigil at a small table on campus to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. While they were praying, pro-Arab groups gathered nearby to protest Israel's occupation of the West Bank. To advertise their event, pro-Arab organizers circulated grotesque posters of Jews eating Christian babies. One speaker told the Jewish students to "go back to Germany, they'll hook you up," said Roil Been, program coordinator for Hillel.
The Muslim Student Association, the General Union of Palestinian Students and Women's Islamic Association could not be reached for comment late Monday.
At another pro-Israel rally Dec. 8, pro-Arab demonstrators disrupted the event with chants such as "Stop killing our children." |
