A substantial group of scholars have been apprehended following the deployment of an extensive NYPD squad on Columbia University on Tuesday evening. This operation was set to empty an academic property that was seized during a demonstration supporting Palestine.
Footages broadcasted live illustrated law enforcement agents in full protective suits advancing towards the university site in the higher Manhattan, the central stage for a nationwide academic resistance against the Gaza engagements by Israel. The police force utilised a fortified motor vehicle equipped with a temporary bridge to penetrate the secondary level of the said facility.
Despite admitting to using flashbangs to scatter gathered protesters, the deployed officers disclaimed the application of tear gas during the intervention. Shortly afterwards, officers could be viewed escorting the detained demonstrators, constrained with plastic handcuffs, towards a line of police vehicles positioned just beyond university premises. Carlos Nieves, an NYPD representative, declared a lack of immediate reports regarding any injuries resulting from the apprehensions.
Law enforcers were witnessed shouting “We’re clearing it out” as they progressed towards the obstructed entry to the structure. Safe behind the university barriers, numerous students spectating the scene chanted “Shame! Shame!”.
A demonstrator at the scene, only identified as Sophie, informed The Guardian that the officers had enclosed the protesters within structures prior to executing arrests. “This won’t be swept under the carpet”, she announced. “This has transcended the issue of Israeli-Palestinian relations. It’s now a matter of human rights, freedom of speech and the concerns of Columbia students.”
This police action, concluded within a few hours, comes after nearly a fortnight of mounting tensions. Pro-Palestine demonstrators at the institution had disregarded a final warning given on Monday to evacuate their stationed protests or face a possible suspension. Columbia University officials had threatened disciplinary expulsion of the occupying students of Hamilton Hall, an eight-tier neoclassical property, on Tuesday. These students were found forming human barriers and vocalising pro-Palestinian mottos.
The university released a statement on Tuesday indicating its request for police intervention to “regain calmness and orderliness to our community.” The statement continued, “Upon discovering the overnight occupation, vandalism and barricading of Hamilton Hall, we were left without any other alternative. Our public safety team at Columbia were forcefully ousted from the structure and a member of our facilities team was intimidated. We won’t compromise our community’s safety or risk further escalation.”
Additionally, the university stressed the significant role of individuals “not associated with the university” in fronting the group that “forced entry and took over the building”.
The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, stressed that his decision to involve the New York Police Department (NYPD) was necessitated by the behaviour of the protesters, not their cause. He further iterated that the city would not condone an ostensibly peaceful assembly degenerating into a violent and purposeless spectacle. He stated, “We must act before this situation deteriorates further. This needs to stop immediately.”
Meanwhile, Jamaal Bowman, a congressman from New York, expressed his deep discontent at the extensive police involvement at Columbia and several other universities in New York. He stated on channel X: “The large-scale police presence, militarising university campuses, and arresting hundreds of students is wholly contradictory to the fundamental role of education in our democracy.”
Bowman has urged the Columbia University’s administration to prevent an escalation that could lead to further disturbances and to allow faculty members back on campus. Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, requested that the police continue their presence on campus until at least May 17th to maintain order and prevent the re-establishment of encampments.
Moreover, Shafik revealed that they had failed to find common ground with the organisers of the protests, and the university would not cater to their demand for divestment from Israel.
In a separate report, the New York Times covered the arrest of numerous students at the City College of New York, a part of the City University of New York system (CUNY), where a sit-in protest continued following the departure of students from Columbia. One protester going by the initials OS conveyed to the Guardian: “We must persist in our peaceful protests and let the truth be revealed.”
An NYPD representative confirmed that CUNY had requested a police intervention to disperse protesters. The protests, which started on Thursday, included the attempted occupation of an academic building earlier on Tuesday.
In a press briefing that took place on Tuesday evening, Mayor Adams teamed up with city police officers to report that the takeover of Hamilton Hall was primarily instigated by unrelated “external agitators” known for inciting lawlessness. Adams suggested that several student protesters might be unwitting participants under the influence of these extraneous actors.
In a recent statement, the city’s mayor expressed his strong opposition to a peaceful assembly transforming into a purposeless, violent display. He urged for an immediate resolution and dismissal of the escalating conflict. Meanwhile, with the police receding, students showcased their pride for taking a stand for a cause. The source of such assertion wasn’t substantiated by any concrete evidence from either Adams or the university.
Student protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar on a student visa at Columbia’s international and public affairs school, refuted the claim that external individuals had started the occupation. To emphasise this, he pointed out to Reuters that all the involved individuals were students. Hamilton Hall, which was previously occupied during the 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests, was once again under the spotlight this week.
Protesting students displayed a prominent banner renaming it ‘Hind’s Hall,’ honouring Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who lost her life at the hands of Israeli forces earlier this year. Seyma Beyram, a professor of journalism at Columbia, revealed being enclosed within a block bordered by police barricades with her colleagues. She reported that all they could record was students being loaded onto buses.
Reports emerged late Tuesday from Columbia’s student-run radio that Jelani Cobb, the dean of journalism school, received an arrest warning if he and others vacated the building. Protesters outside were heard passionately chanting: “Free, Free, Free Palestine.” They demanded that the students be released.
After the police withdrew from CUNY, one student expressed satisfaction saying they managed to de-escalate the situation, adding proudly that their stand against university tuition fees being used to sponsor wars was validated. However, they stressed that they aimed to address their objections peacefully.