New York City police arrested dozens of student and faculty protesters at New York University on Monday night and cleared an encampment earlier set up by anti-Israel demonstrators, according to the university’s newspaper.
Police in riot gear handcuff protesters with zip ties and board a police bus as they demand that New York University divest of assets linked to Israel over ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip. guided to. This is a newspaper run by university students. Washington Square News reported.
New York University faculty and staff stood side by side with their arms linked to form a human barrier between the crowd of police officers and student demonstrators. According to the video A city reporter shared this. Professors were the first to be arrested.
Moments earlier, police broadcast a message over a megaphone ordering the group to disperse or face arrest for trespassing, the paper said.
When police arrived, they also tore down tents that students had erected as part of a Gaza Solidarity encampment Monday morning at the private university’s Gould Plaza on West 4th Street.
Earlier in the day, New York University’s campus safety director told protesters they would “face serious consequences” if they did not leave the camp by 4 p.m., WSN reported.
The directive was issued after a metal barrier installed at Place Gould was breached to prevent the protests from escalating.
“The breach of the barricade early this afternoon violated that requirement and witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and hostile conduct that disrupted the safety and security of our community,” Campus Safety Director Fountain Walker said in a statement. he told the camp crowd. , according to a university paper. “If you leave now, no one will face the consequences of today’s actions. There will be no discipline, no police.”
But the number of people supporting the protests only grew as anti-Israel activists emerged from outside the university community.
“This development dramatically changes the situation,” New York University spokesman John Beckman said in a statement, noting that protesters with no ties to the university had breached the barrier. “We have witnessed disorderly, destructive and hostile behavior that disrupts the safety and security of our communities. We have demonstrated that there is a
NYU then requested police officers respond to the campus, according to Beckman and the NYPD.
A university spokesperson said multiple “anti-Semitic incidents” were reported during the protests, but did not provide further details.
“We also learned that intimidating chants were taking place and several anti-Semitic incidents were reported,” Beckman said. “Given the foregoing and the safety concerns posed by this breach, we requested assistance from the NYPD. Police encouraged those in the square to leave peacefully, but ultimately There were many arrests.”
According to WSN, officers from the ministry’s Strategic Response Group entered the protest around 8:30 p.m. and began making arrests and removing all tents.
Witnesses at the scene said many of the demonstrators appeared to be praying when the police swooped in.
Students, faculty, staff and other protesters were arrested for “disorderly conduct,” the NYPD said in a megaphone announcement.
As police loaded those arrested onto waiting transport buses, protesters who had gathered outside a barricaded campus plaza blocked the vehicles from leaving, according to videos shared on social media. moved onto the street. This led to officers making further arrests and the bus eventually departed.
Police did not immediately say how many people were detained by officers.
New York University was just one of several elite universities in the county where students protesting Israel had set up camp.
Most notably, a tent city at Columbia University was cleared by police last week, but another tent city sprung up shortly after.
This is a developing story. Please check the latest information.
