Hundreds of New York City police officers entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening to enter Columbia University, which had been occupied the day before by pro-Palestinian students, as tensions over encampments on student campuses in the Gaza Strip have disrupted New York schools for two weeks. The school building was removed.
Live video images showed police in riot gear marching on the campus in upper Manhattan, the epicenter of nationwide student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Police shouted “We are eliminating” as they marched toward the barricaded entrance to the building.
“Shame! Shame!” jeered many students still watching outside campus.
Dozens of police marched into the protest camp. Officers were then seen leading handcuffed protesters outside the campus gates to police vehicles.
Police loaded about 50 detainees, their hands tied behind their backs with cable ties, onto buses, and the entire scene was illuminated by the red and blue flashing lights of police vehicles. Ambulances and other emergency service vehicles were on standby. Flash bangs were used to disperse the crowd, but no tear gas was used, according to the New York Police Department.
Jelani Cobb, dean of the journalism school, was threatened with arrest if he and others in the building came out, according to a statement from Columbia University’s student radio station.
Outside the building, protesters chanted “Free, free, free Palestine.” Some shouted, “Please let the students go!”
Shortly after midnight, the Associated Press reported that police had cleared Hamilton Hall.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the university ignored an ultimatum from school leadership on Monday to abandon camp or risk suspension. The university announced the suspensions began early Monday evening.
“As part of our next phase of efforts to ensure campus safety, we have begun suspending students,” the university said in a statement. Update on website. “Once a disciplinary action is initiated, the adjudication is processed by several different departments within the university based on the nature of the violation.”
Columbia University officials threaten to expel students who occupied Hamilton Hall, an eight-story neoclassical building that was blocked off by protesters with tied weapons, barricades, and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans. Was.
“We made it very clear [on Monday] “University operations cannot be indefinitely disrupted by protesters who violate our rules,” said Ben Chan, a Columbia University spokesperson. “If we continue to do things like this, there will be clear consequences. The protesters have chosen to escalate into an intolerable situation, destroying property, breaking doors and windows, blocking entrances, We follow the results outlined yesterday.”
The ultimatum came after the university’s president, Minoush Shafik, announced that efforts to reach a compromise with protest organizers had failed. He said the agency would not bow to demands to withdraw from Israel.
At a news conference Tuesday evening, Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall occupation had nothing to do with Columbia, and that “outside instigators” known to provoke law enforcement into illegal activity were involved in the Hamilton Hall occupation. ” was said to have been instigated.
Hamilton Hall was one of several buildings on campus occupied during the 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests. Student demonstrators there once again overtook the square, holding up a large banner that read “Hall of Hind,” showing Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza City who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this year. The name was changed in honor of.
Adams suggested that some student demonstrators were not fully aware of the “external actors” among them.
“We cannot and will not allow what should be a peaceful gathering to turn into a violent spectacle that serves no purpose. We will not wait until this situation becomes more serious. This has to end now,” the mayor said.
One of the student leaders of the protests, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar who attends Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs on a student visa, disputed claims that outsiders started the occupation.
“They are students,” he told Reuters.
A few hours later, as the sun set, tensions rose. Police in riot gear also became visible on city streets near campus, and university administrators issued a “shelter in place” email notice to students.
New York City police officials said before Tuesday night’s raid, officers would not be allowed to take action unless Columbia authorities request their presence, as they did on April 18, when New York City police cleared their previous positions. He emphasized that he would refrain from entering the campus.
Reuters contributed to this report
