Masked anti-Israel protesters demonstrated outside the entrance to Columbia University on Tuesday, chanting “Free Palestine!” and holding signs urging the Ivy League school to “Divest from Death” as students prepared for their first day of classes.
The demonstration came following a series of protests that rocked the New York City-based university, garnering worldwide media attention and resulting in more than 100 arrests. The anti-Israel action also came just days after Hamas killed six hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg Pollin, who has been held captive since October 7, 2023, when it carried out a terrorist attack in southern Israel, and continues to hold approximately 100 more in captivity.
At least one protester was captured on video being arrested Tuesday while other demonstrators were seen pushing and fighting against barricades, after a second man was detained outside Barnard College, across from Columbia University.
The demonstration began peacefully, with protesters walking in a circle on the sidewalk near the entrance to Columbia University in Upper Manhattan.
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An anti-Israel protester was filmed being arrested near Columbia University on Tuesday, September 3rd. (Fox News)
“We refuse to live in a world where the genocide of Palestinians is normal, acceptable, and profitable. Columbia University is complicit in genocide,” the group Columbia Students for Justice for Palestine wrote to X. “Its investments in weapons manufacturers and defense contractors like Lockheed Martin support genocide.”
An anti-Israel protest takes place in front of Columbia University on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, in New York City. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
“As the new semester begins, Gazan students have no university to return to. Instead of listening to their voices, Columbia University has become even more adamant. We will not stop or rest until Columbia moves away from apartheid and genocide,” the statement added. “This is just the beginning.”
The “Alma Mater” statue outside the Ivy League Columbia University's Law Library is seen covered in red paint on Tuesday, September 3rd. (WNYW)
Columbia University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
One protester held a sign that read, “Long Live Hind Hall.” In late April, an anti-Israel mob invaded and occupied Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus. The mob then hung a banner at the facility, renaming it “Hind Hall” after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old boy who died during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza.
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The demonstration on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, came in the wake of spring semester protests that led to the occupation of Columbia University buildings and the arrest of more than 100 people. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)
“We're here because there is still a genocide going on, for which the United States is materially and politically responsible,” one student at the scene told Fox News reporter Alexis McAdams.
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On Thursday, September 3, a scuffle broke out during an anti-Israel protest at Columbia University, and people were seen falling to the ground. (Fox News)
When asked if he thought protests would begin at Columbia this semester, the student replied, “We've been very clear that the protests will not stop until Columbia stops supporting Israel's genocide of Palestinians. That's all.”
Fox News' Sandy Ibrahim, Lawrence Richard and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.
