NEW YORK - New York City police officers entered the grounds of Columbia University on Tuesday night to arrest and disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who took over a campus building nearly 24 hours earlier and have occupied a tent camp at the school for nearly two weeks.
Live television images showed helmeted police in tactical gear entering the elite campus in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the United States in recent days expressing opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.
“We’re clearing it out,” police officers yelled as they marched up to the barricaded entrance of Hamilton Hall, an academic building that protesters had broke into and seized control of in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
A long line of police officers were seen climbing into the building through a second-storey window, using a vehicle with a ladder to gain access to the upper floor.
Dozens of other officers swarmed over the nearby protest encampment, as onlooking students standing just outside the campus jeered them with shouts of “Shame, shame!” Before long, officers were seen leading handcuffed protesters to police vehicles outside campus gates.
Police boarded about 50 detainees onto a bus, each of them with their hands bound behind their backs by zip ties, the entire scene illuminated with flashing red and blue lights of police vehicles. Ambulances and other emergency services vehicles stood at the read.
“Free, free, free Palestine,” chanted protesters outside the building. Others yelled “Let the students go”.
Columbia University officials earlier on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of the students who seized Hamilton Hall.
The occupation began overnight when protesters broke windows, stormed inside and unfurled a banner reading “Hind’s Hall”, symbolically renaming the building for a 6-year-old Palestinian child killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.
Outside the eight-storey, neo-classical building — the site of various student occupations on the campus dating back to the 1960s — protesters had blocked the entrance with tables, linked arms to form a barricade and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans.
At an evening news briefing held a few hours before police entered Columbia, Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover was instigated by “outside agitators” who lack any affiliation with Columbia and are known to law enforcement for provoking lawlessness.
Police said they based their conclusions in part on escalating tactics in the occupation, including vandalism, use of barricades to block entrances and destruction of security cameras.
Adams suggested some of the student protesters were not fully aware of “external actors” in their midst.
“We cannot and will not allow what should be a peaceful gathering to turn into a violent spectacle that serves no purpose. We cannot wait until this situation becomes even more serious. This must end now,” the mayor said.
One of the student leaders of the protest, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar attending Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs on a student visa, disputed assertions that outsiders had initiated the occupation.
“They’re students,” he told Reuters.
A day earlier, the university said it had begun suspending students who defied a deadline for vacating a protest encampment, as school officials declared that several days of talks with protest leaders aimed at dismantling the tents had reached a stalemate.
“Disruptions on campus have created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with the teaching, learning and preparing for final exams,” the university said in a statement.
The Oct 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza, and the ensuing Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave, have unleashed the biggest outpouring of student activism since the anti-racism protests of 2020. (Story continues below)
Protesters link arms as police officers enter the campus of Columbia University on Tuesday night. (Photo: Reuters)
Antisemitism allegations
Many of the demonstrations have been met with counter-protesters accusing them of fomenting anti-Jewish hatred. The pro-Palestinian side, including Jews opposed to Israeli actions in Gaza, say they are being unfairly branded as antisemitic for criticising Israel’s government and expressing support for human rights.
In dealing with the protests, university officials have struggled to strike a balance between allowing freedom of expression and stamping out hate speech.
The issue has taken on political overtones in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.
White House spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday denounced non-peaceful forms of student protests, calling the occupation of campus buildings “the wrong approach”.
In Los Angeles, meanwhile, officials at UCLA declared a pro-Palestinian encampment illegal for the first time on Tuesday night and warned protesters that they faced consequences if they did not leave.
It was an abrupt turn at a campus that had been among the most tolerant in the country, abiding by a University of California practice of avoiding law enforcement action unless “absolutely necessary to protect the physical safety of our campus community”.
After protesters established the encampment last Thursday in the shadow of Royce Hall, university officials did not intervene and said they wanted to support free speech rights while minimising campus disruption.
But patience appeared to run out after violent confrontations in recent days between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israel supporters that required the campus police to intervene.
Administrators also took issue with instances in which protesters used metal gates and human walls to control access to campus walkways and entrances, videos of which had circulated on social media.
In a statement Tuesday, Gene Block, the chancellor, called such tactics “shocking and shameful” and said that protesters who engaged in such behaviour could face suspension or expulsion.