(NEW YORK) – Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering Columbia University on Tuesday night as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on campus.
Protesters occupied Hamilton Hall hours earlier after setting up an encampment earlier this month.
Students set up tents again after police cleared a camp at the university on April 18 and arrested more than 100 people. Students had been protesting on the Manhattan campus since the previous day, opposing Israeli military action in Gaza and demanding that the school divest from companies that they claim are profiting from the conflict.
Protests spread across campuses from California to Massachusetts as May graduation ceremonies close, putting additional pressure on schools to keep protesters away.
More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested over the past two weeks on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after violent clashes with police officers in riot gear.
“Remove yourself from this situation now and continue your advocacy by other means,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams advised Columbia protesters on Tuesday afternoon. “This must end now.”
The White House condemned the standoffs in Columbia and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters occupied two buildings until baton-wielding officers intervened overnight and arrested 25 people. Authorities estimated that total damage to the Northern California campus was more than $1 million.
President Joe Biden believes the occupation of students in an academic building is “absolutely the wrong approach” and “is not an example of peaceful protest,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
Other colleges sought to negotiate agreements with protesters in hopes of holding peaceful graduation ceremonies. As ceasefire negotiations appeared to gain momentum, it was unclear whether these negotiations would inspire an easing of protests.
Northwestern University scored a rare victory when officials said they reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago to allow peaceful demonstrations until the end of spring classes.
National campus protests began in Columbia in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7. Militants killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took around 250 hostages. Promising to eradicate Hamas, Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.
Israel and its supporters have called the university protests anti-Semitic, while Israel’s critics say the country uses such allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or violent threats, protest organizers, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
On Columbia’s campus, protesters crossed arms Tuesday morning and carried furniture and metal barricades into Hamilton Hall, among several buildings. who were busy during a civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest in 1968. Protesters named the building Hind’s Hall, after a young woman who was killed in Gaza under Israeli fire.
Despite the chaos overnight, NYPD bosses said officers would not enter the Columbia campus without a request from the college administration or an imminent emergency.
The takeover came hours after protesters shrugged their shoulders an earlier ultimatum abandon a camp on Monday or be suspended – restricted from all academic and recreational spaces, allowed only into their residence halls, and, for seniors, ineligible to graduate.
Mahmoud Khalil, one of the main negotiators before negotiations with the administration collapsed over the weekend, was among the suspended students. His suspension letter — which he shared with the Associated Press — said he refused to leave the camp after advance warnings, but Khalil said he complied with the university’s demand that he vacate the camp on the campus lawn by the afternoon deadline of Monday.
Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said in a statement that anyone occupying Hamilton Hall risked expulsion from the university for escalating the protest “into an untenable situation – vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blocking entrances.” .
Occupation protesters have insisted that they will remain in Hamilton Hall until the university agrees to three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
The Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors said faculty efforts to help calm the situation were repeatedly ignored by the university administration, despite school statutes requiring consultation. The group warned of potential conflict between nearby police and protesters on campus.
“We hold University leadership accountable for the disastrous lapses in judgment that have led us to this point,” the chapter said in a statement Tuesday. “The university president, his senior staff and the Board of Trustees will be responsible for any injuries that may occur during any police action on our campus.”
Ilana Lewkovitch, a self-described “left-wing Zionist” student at Columbia, said it has been difficult to concentrate at school for weeks, amid calls for Zionists to die or leave campus. Examinations of her were punctuated by shouts of “say it loud, say it clearly, we want the Zionists out of here” in the background, she said.
Lewkovitch, who identifies as Jewish and studied at Columbia’s Tel Aviv campus, said she wishes the current pro-Palestine protests were more open to people like her who criticize Israel’s war policies but believe there should be an Israeli state.
Adams claimed Tuesday that the Columbia protests were “co-opted by outside professional agitators.” The mayor did not provide specific evidence to support this claim, which was disputed by protest organizers and participants.
NYPD officials made similar claims about “outside agitators” during the massive grassroots demonstrations against racial injustice that erupted across the city following the death of George Floyd in 2020. In some cases, senior police officials falsely labeled neighborhood-organized marches peaceful known. activists as the work of violent extremists.
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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press journalists from across the country contributed to this report, including Karen Matthews, Jim Vertuno, Hannah Schoenbaum, Sarah Brumfield, Stefanie Dazio, Christopher Weber, Carolyn Thompson, Dave Collins, Makiya Seminera, Philip Marcelo and Corey Williams.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
