Slideshow: Protesters in support of Gaza gather at Georgia Southern Armstrong

Pro-Palestinian chants rang across the heart of Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus on Thursday as scores of students, alumni and their supporters joined their counterparts at dozens of universities and colleges nationwide to protest Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Some 30 protesters heard speeches and waved signs accusing Israel of committing genocide and war crimes in the Palestinian enclave following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, in which hundreds of Israelis were killed and at least 199 taken hostage.

Looking on during Thursday’s demonstration on the lawn outside the student union was a roughly equal number of students, faculty members, administrators, several police officers, and the merely curious. A similar protest occurred almost simultaneously on GSU’s main campus in Statesboro.