Students opposing Israel’s war on Gaza could be seen handcuffed and being led to police buses after occupying administration building.
Dozens of students were arrested early on Wednesday when New York police officers wearing riot gear entered the main campus of Columbia University and broke up an anti-war and pro-Palestinian encampment, in the latest escalation of college campus demonstrations against the war on Gaza.
Police used an armoured vehicle with a bridging mechanism to gain entry to Hamilton Hall building, which students had occupied since Monday night and renamed Hind’s Hall – after a six-year old Palestinian child went missing in Gaza and was later found killed along with several of her relatives and two paramedics who tried to save her, after they appear to have come under fire from Israeli tanks.
Several students and pro-Palestine demonstrators could be heard jeering the police, as officer bungled protesters, their hands tied behind their backs with plastic zip ties, into police vehicles outside the campus gates.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that police were “wearing riot gear” and that “multiple blocks have been barricaded off.”
The move to clear the protest came exactly 56 years since police swept into Hamilton Hall to end a 1968 protest by students against racism and the Vietnam War.
“The university chose to call hundreds of [New York Police Department] NYPD officers onto campus and violently arrest students. The administration has also asked the police to remain on campus until May 17. Presumably, after that the campus will be locked down,” one academic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Middle East Eye.
“How long will the siege of Columbia last? We do not know but whatever emerges after this siege will no longer be a university,” the academic said.
The move at Columbia comes as the NYPD simultaneously entered the encampment set up City University of New York (CUNY) in Manhattan, reportedly beating and spraying protesters including faculty and journalists with pepper spray.
Columbia University students stage Vietnam-era anti-war protests for Gaza
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One faculty member told MEE that at least one person had been taken to hospital with injuries.
Meanwhile, the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors at Columbia lamented the show of force on students as means to diffuse the protest movement.
“NYPD presence in our neighbourhood endangers our entire community. Armed police entering our campus places students and everyone else on campus at risk. That is why University statutes require consultation with faculty — statutes which appear to have been ignored since April 17, and again tonight,” the statement read.
“We hold University leadership responsible for the disastrous lapses of judgement that have gotten us to this point.”
The statement added that the professors hold the university leadership, including the president and board of trustees, responsible “for any injuries that may occur during any police action on our campus”.
Likewise, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) released a statement describing the raid a stain on Columbia. It will forever be a stain on Columbia that the administration called riot police on its own student body rather than divest from the brutality of war and occupation.
“Tonight, my university called in a militarized police force — armed in riot gear, with guns drawn, deploying weapons banned under international law — to attack teenagers.
All because Columbia refuses to divest from the Israeli military and its genocidal campaign on the people of Gaza,” Lea Salim, a student at Columbia, said.
Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik said in a letter sent to the NYPD, that she felt compelled to call on them for assistance following the student takeover of Hind’s Hall (Hamilton Hall).
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“With the support of the university’s trustees, I have determined that the buildings, occupation, encampments and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to persons, property and substantial functioning of the University, and require the use of emergency authority to protect persons and property,” Shafik wrote.
“In light of the activities that occurred after the events of April 17-18, 2024, we further request that you retain a presence on campus through at least May 17, 2024 to maintain order and ensure encampments are not re-established,” Shafik added.
The occupation of the building comes with immense anti-war symbolism given that it was occupied by the students against the war in Vietnam in 1968.
Source: Middle east eye
