US students view spreading Gaza
protests as their 1968 moment

Parallels with Vietnam War opposition are there and no wonder – the students have studied the tactics and are planning an uncomfortable march for the Democrats

A pro-Palestinian protester is removed by police at the University of Texas in Austin last week. Photo: AP

Richard Hall
© UK Independent

Historical comparisons in the US between the mass protests of 1968 and today’s student demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza are both imperfect and hard to avoid.

It’s been just 10 days since students at Columbia University in New York pitched the first tent on the campus lawns, and already the protests have galvanised a generation of students much in the same way the Vietnam war did 56 years ago – spreading from coast to coast.