Indian-origin student Achinthya Sivalingam has been arrested and banned from Princeton University in the US, pending a disciplinary process, for participating in an unauthorised student-led pro-Palestine encampment protest within the campus premises. The development comes amid Sivalingam, who was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested on Thursday along with another fellow student, Hassan Sayed, the Princeton Alumni Weekly reported, citing a document by the protest organisers that identified the two.
On Thursday morning, student protesters had set up tents in the University’s McCosh Courtyard despite warnings from authorities, the Princeton Alumni Weekly reported.
Within minutes, the two students were arrested, which led to the protesters packing up their tents while continuing to stage a sit-in demonstration.
The sit-in protest, which initially saw a crowd of about 110 people, increased to some 300 by Thursday afternoon.
Confirming Thursday’s development, Princeton University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said the two graduate students were arrested “after repeated warnings from the Department of Public Safety to cease activity and leave the area”.
They “have been immediately barred from campus, pending a disciplinary process”, she said, adding that the remaining tents in the encampment area were “voluntarily taken down by protesters”.
“No force was used by Public Safety officers when conducting the arrests, which occurred without resistance,” the Princeton Alumni Weekly quoted the spokesperson as saying.
