Hebrew U. students protest campus attacks

About 100 Hebrew University students held a candle-lit march between the Mount Scopus campus and the nearby dorms on Tuesday night to protest against what they called indifference from the university and police in the face of ongoing sexual attacks, stone-throwing and other forms of violence in and around campus.

The protest, entitled “Lighting up the way to university: awakening the authorities,” came about after seven students created a Facebook group on the issue. The Student Union then helped organize the protest, which also drew representatives from a range of political groups.

The stoning of an Egged bus last week proved the trigger for the protest. Liron Matelski, a 23 year old international relations and communications student, was riding the 17 line toward the city center when the bus was targeted by two Arab youths in broad daylight. “We want to be able to go to the university safely, without being sexually harrassed or having our cars vandalized,” Matelski explained.

“We are concerned by this severe increase in violence and feel that we are putting ourselves at risk when walking to and from school”, explained Zvi Fogel, a former security officer at the university and one of the organizers of the protest.