This Image Of Paragliders In Columbia Protests Is Doctored

Misbar investigated the viral image and found it to be fake. No posters of paragliders could be seen in any of the shared photos of the protest.

The Paragliders In The Image Are Emojis

Zooming in the viral photo to clearly see the alleged paragliders, Misbar’s team found that the paragliders are very similar to the iOS emojis, suggesting that they are just emojis added to the photo.

Emojipedia shared the parachute emojis in iOS 13.2, where it could be noted that the paragliders in the viral claim are the same ones as iOS emojis.

Moreover, we did not find any posters of paragliders in any other shared photos of the protests at Columbia University.

The New York Post shared some photos of the encampment at Columbia University. One of the photos seems to be the same photo in the viral claim. No decorations of paragliders could be found in it.

Columbia Students Are Protesting For a Free Palestine

Columbia University, New York City’s most prestigious college, has witnessed pro-Palestinian protests by its students. The protesters refused to disperse until the school announced to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and disinvest its funds from entities connected to Israel.

The police raided a protest encampment at Columbia University last week with the authorization of Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, which caused immense criticism of Shafik from students, faculty, and Democratic lawmakers. The atmosphere was so charged that officials at Columbia – the epicenter of the protests that began last week – announced students could attend classes virtually starting Monday. 

These protests are organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student-led coalition of more than 100 organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. The students protest the university’s “continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine,” according to its news release.

Columbia Sparked A Storm Of Protests

From Columbia University to Brown University, Emory University, Emerson University, Indiana University, George Washington University, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, and Northeastern University, pro-Palestinian campus protests are rippling across the U.S., with hundreds of people arrested at universities throughout the country this week.

Columbia University with its charged atmosphere has sparked a storm of protests around the country, at what historians now call one of the most consequential student uprisings the nation has seen in recent times. What differentiates these protests from previous protests in history are social media and smartphones which allowed students to quickly communicate with one another and replicate tactics in ways unthinkable in earlier university movements.

David Cortright, the historian and professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, sees that these protests are similar to other large protest movements over the last 60 years, including the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa and the 2011 Occupy Wall Street demonstrations over corporate greed.

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