Police made dozens of arrests as they cleared the protesters from Columbia’s campus. (Credit: David Dee Delgado/Reuters)
BEIRUT – A large number of New York City police officers entered the Columbia University campus, detaining several individuals, as the latest development in the ongoing Gaza anti-war protests affecting college campuses, primarily across the United States, Tuesday night.
Live broadcasts showed police entering the upper Manhattan university, which has become a central location for student demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza, resulting in over 34,568 Palestinian deaths.
Around 9 p.m. on Tuesday (1:00 a.m. GMT on Wednesday), police entered the Columbia University campus, with some officers heading towards Hamilton Hall, the administration building occupied by students earlier on Tuesday. The university administration had suspended students who failed to comply with a previous deadline to disperse which had ended seven hours earlier.
The students had renamed Hamilton Hall "Hind's Hall" in honor of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in February after being trapped in her family's car with the bodies of her family members who had been killed hours before when they were trying to flee the area.
As police approached the barricaded entrance of the building, riot unit officers declared, "We're clearing it out," while numerous other officers advanced on the main protest camp.
In a post on X, Columbia University's branch of Students for Justice in Palestine posted photos of damaged "tables and chairs left by NYPD officers outside of Hind’s Hall at Columbia University."
Broken tables and chairs left by NYPD officers outside of Hind’s Hall at Columbia University. pic.twitter.com/vD2siSRFIN
— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) May 1, 2024
A line of police officers was observed entering Hamilton Hall by climbing a ladder from a truck to access a second-story window. Soon after, officers led multiple protesters, their hands bound with plastic zip ties, to police vehicles positioned outside the campus gates. According to the Associated Press, 30 to 40 individuals were removed from the building.
Outside Hamilton Hall, protesters chanted, "Free, free, free Palestine!" and "Let the students go!" This move to disperse the protest coincided with the 56th anniversary of police intervening in a 1968 protest at Hamilton Hall against racism and the Vietnam War.
At an evening news briefing held a few hours before police entered the campus, New York Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials alleged the Hamilton Hall takeover had been instigated by “outside agitators” who lacked any affiliation with Columbia and were known to law enforcement for provoking lawlessness, AFP reported.
Adams suggested some of the student protesters were not fully aware of “external actors” in their midst, according to AFP.
A spokesperson for Columbia University said police had been asked onto the campus as a last resort and would remain until May 17 when graduation events come to an end.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding that its public safety personnel had been forced out of the building and one facility worker “threatened.”
“The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing,” the statement said. “We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
The protesters are demanding that Columbia University divest from any investments related to Israel, disclose its financial connections to the country, and offer amnesty to all students involved in the demonstrations to protect them from disciplinary actions.
Protests across the US
Protests at Columbia University began on April 17 and have since sparked demonstrations across the United States, spanning from California to Massachusetts, coinciding with universities preparing for graduation ceremonies.
In the past two weeks, more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested on campuses in various states such as Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, with some confrontations involving riot police.
In Tampa, Florida, police used tear gas on students who had established a Gaza solidarity camp at the University of Southern Florida and arrested two individuals, as captured in verified videos from journalists and witnesses.
At the University of New Mexico, 16 people were detained as police forcibly removed pro-Palestine protesters occupying the Student Union building. A university spokesperson noted that five of those arrested were students at the university, while the remaining 11 had no affiliation with the institution.
Supporters greeted students released from the Travis County Jail after being arrested during pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday.
US university protests reached Lebanon
On Tuesday, over three hundred people gathered at the American University of Beirut calling on the university to terminate contracts, agreements, or sponsorships with any company on the list of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, a Palestinian-led movement that encourages boycotts, divestment and economic sanctions against Israel.
Students had also told L'Orient Today that their protest comes in solidarity with students at US universities who are being arrested and attacked by the police for their support of Palestine.