Police in riot gear enter Columbia University to break up pro-Palestine protests

Hundreds of New York Police Department officers, many with batons and riot gear, stormed the Columbia University campus on Tuesday night as student protesters continued their peaceful occupation of a campus building in protest against the Israel-Hamas war.

Student protesters barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall on Tuesday morning, escalating after more than a week of protest camping in the university’s outdoor commons space.

Police entered the hallway through a second-story window around 9:30 p.m., hours after Columbia ordered students to shelter in place on campus and after New York City police demanded that students remain in their dorms.

Columbia said the decision to call the NYPD was “made to restore safety and order to our community.”

“We regret that the protesters chose to escalate the situation through their actions,” said a university spokesperson. he wrote. “After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized and locked down, we had no choice.”

Tensions have been rising for days in Columbia, the first of hundreds of similar protests on campuses across the country against the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. The protests demanded a ceasefire in the conflict, an end to military aid to Israel and for its colleges and universities to divest themselves of Israeli interests.

A university spokesperson said Columbia believes the protesters occupying Hamilton Hall are “not affiliated with the University.” The campus has been inaccessible to anyone who is not a student or employee for days.

At a press conference on Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) stated that the protests were “co-opted” and urged protesters to give up their cause “before the situation worsens”.

“I urge all students and all protesters to leave this situation now and continue their advocacy through other means,” Adams said. “This must end now.”

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry added that protesters inside Hamilton Hall could be charged with theft, criminal mischief and trespassing, while those protesting outside the university could face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct. .

Rep. Alexandria Ocacio Cortez (DN.Y.), who met with protesters earlier this week, criticized Columbia’s mayor and leadership for their response and police action.

“If any children are hurt tonight, the responsibility will fall on the mayor and university presidents. Other leaders and schools have found a safe and descalable path,” she wrote on social media platform X. “This is the opposite of leadership and puts public safety at risk. A nightmare in the making. I ask the mayor to reverse course.”

The Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) also denounced the police presence, warning of potential violence.

“Columbia professors spent the day offering our help to calm the situation on the Columbia campus and were rebuffed or ignored. We were locked out of our campus and demanded permission to return, and were turned away or ignored,” the chapter’s executive board said. wrote in a statement as police gathered outside the campus.

“The presence of the NYPD in our neighborhood puts our entire community in danger. Having armed police officers on our campus puts students and everyone else on campus at risk,” the group continued. “We hold University leadership accountable for the disastrous lapses in judgment that led us to this point.”

The faculty criticism comes on the same day that the president of Barnard College faced a vote of no confidence. The Columbia subsidiary’s vote resulted in 77% of the faculty going against the president, citing the school’s response to the protests.

Colombia is at the center of political attention in the protests. The campus received visits from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Governor Kathy Hochul (DN.Y.) and several members of Congress from both sides of the aisle over the past week.

Lawmakers from both parties have called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign if the protests cannot be quickly suppressed.

More than a thousand students have been detained across the country in similar protests, some of which have included violent clashes with police and counter-protesters.

While many notable universities have responded to protests with police presence, others have allowed protest camps to continue unabated. Brown University announced Tuesday that its protest will end after it agreed to hold a vote of its corporate board on the student divestment proposal.