Anti-Israel activists disrupted a Rutgers University new student orientation exercise earlier this month, and later bragged about it on social media.
According to The Daily Targum, protesters associated with Build Up Resistance Now, or BURN, interrupted a “protest-related” exercise for incoming freshmen with “chants and noisemakers” and a sign which read “Rutgers can’t stop student power.”
The exercise was designed to help students deal with situations in which they “did not agree” with others, according to the report. Among other things, orientation facilitators urged new freshmen “to learn more about their rights to protest and free speech on campus.”
However, a BURN press release asked “how can there be a ‘compromise’ over something like a genocide?” and said “We don’t want to have a debate about whether or not Rutgers should be involved in dropping bombs on the Gaza Strip. We want it to stop completely.”
On its Instagram page, BURN bragged about the eventual cancellation of the orientation exercise writing “VICTORY! MOCK PROTEST SKIT CANCELED!”
It also posted a copy of an email from a Rutgers Orientation address which stated a group of activists, “some of whom wore face coverings, briefly disrupted our event with anti-Semitic chanting.”
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The email noted that although the activists dispersed “shortly after being asked to do so,” they nonetheless violated university policy regarding “appropriate time, place, and manner” for demonstrations.
The message further noted it was unclear if the BURN members involved were Rutgers students, that BURN is not an officially recognized student group, and that the protest currently is under investigation.
BURN claimed there were no anti-Semitic statements uttered by its members, only chants such as “Power to the students!” “All power to the people!” and “If we don’t get no justice, they don’t get no peace!”
The group also mocked the university’s “time, place, and manner” policy given the exercise’s cancellation, asking “Why does Rutgers only ban the types of protests that actually let us win?”
Rutgers also is “oppressive,” BURN claimed, due to its “mask-off” policy, but added “We refuse to back down, an we will not be intimidated.”
MORE: Rutgers administration buckles to anti-Israel activists’ demands
IMAGE: NJ BURN/Instagram
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