COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) – On Thursday, a pro-Palestine protest and a pro-Israel protest were held on the CSU main campus.

Over 50 students sympathetic to Palestine during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East congregated near CSU’s clock tower.

Nearby, just down the hill from the clock tower, about 20 people gathered in support of Israel. Both groups took on a peaceful approach to protesting while on campus.

The CSU student organization that organized the protest, is the Revolution Project, and CSU says the university did not the sponsored event.

CSU issued the following statement regarding the on-campus protest.

Today, a registered student organization (RSO) at Columbus State University is hosting an event on our campus. In some of the flyers posted around campus, this event was titled ‘CSU Stands for Peace for Palestine.’ CSU is not sponsoring this event; rather it is an event hosted by a single RSO. At CSU, we respect everyone’s constitutional right to peaceably assemble in order to express their personal views. When they express their personal views, they do not speak on behalf of the institution.

Most individuals participating in the pro-Palestine protest appeared to be students and the majority of the pro-Israel crowd were locals, not students.

We are just trying to build that organizational power so that we can force our local politicians to just do things. Because I feel like they don’t do a lot of anything. We are specifically here for Palestine out of international solidarity.
– CSU student Cody Collyer

I am here to observe today. And to make sure that the message these individuals are trying to put out is a message of peace and not a message of terrorism.
– Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula)