Americans are becoming more interested in pro-Palestinian campus protests, with Google searches related to the demonstrations temporarily surpassing the number of searches for information about former President Donald Trump's hush money trial early Tuesday morning.
U.S. higher education institutions have found themselves embroiled in the domestic debate over the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Students have led protests against Israel's response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, raising concerns about the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the conflict.
About 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage during Hamas' attack. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, the Associated Press reported, citing local health officials, while more than 80 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced.
The protests have sparked criticism from some Jewish leaders, who say they make Jewish and Israeli citizens feel at risk. Some critics also say some of these protests have veered into antisemitism. In recent days, hundreds of protesters have been arrested amid clashes with law enforcement at colleges and universities.
As the number of college protests grow, the number of Americans searching for information online about the demonstrations has also increased in recent days.
In fact, more Americans were searching for information related to the protests overnight, with the number of searches conducted about the protests surpassing the number of searches about Trump's trial at about 2 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to data from Google Trends.
Meanwhile, searches for "UCLA Protest" overtook searches for the Trump trial Wednesday evening and continued to outrank the Trump trial until about 10 a.m. ET Thursday, when Trump's trial resumed after being paused on Wednesday, according to the data.
Interest in the protests at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) notably grew as they erupted into chaos Wednesday night amid a clash with pro-Israel counter-protesters.
According to the Daily Bruin student newspaper, the pro-Israel counter-protesters tried to enter the encampment erected on the campus. Videos on social media showed fireworks being set off and at least one going into the encampment.
Student journalist Matthew Lewis Royer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he and a colleague "watched at least ten students get carried away from the encampment with injuries sustained by pepper/bear spray."
Police officers arrived at the scene after the clashes, making about 200 arrests, according to The New York Times. Videos posted to social media appeared to show police shoot rubber bullets while clearing the encampment.
The UCLA protests received more searches than Trump's trial in California, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota and West Virginia, according to Google Trends.
According to Google Trends, there have been several protest-related searches to grow in interest in recent days. For instance, interest in "What to do if you get arrested?" doubled in the past week, while "What to do if you get arrested at a protest?" is the top trending search.
"How to be safe at a protest" is also the top trending protest "how to" and a breakout search over the past week, according to Google Trends.
Google searches for "Kent State Protest," the 1970 protest of the Vietnam War which saw the Ohio National Guard kill four students, is also at an all-time high.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
