Columbia university: Dozens of student protesters arrested during sit-in

New York police descended on students staging a sit-in at a Columbia University campus hall

By: maltatoday.com

May 01 2024
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Columbia university: Dozens o

Dozens of pro-Palestine protesters were arrested by the New York police deportment after taking over an academic hall at the Columbia University campus.

Videos uploaded to X by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine show police in riot gear barricading Hamilton Hall, and entering the building through on of the windows.

BREAKING: POLICE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BARRICADING OBSERVERS, MEDICS, JOURNALISTS, STUDENTS INTO JOHN JAY AFTER PUSHING THEM ALL THE WAY BACK pic.twitter.com/w3p6NLpNa3
— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) May 1, 2024

BREAKING: NYPD Strategic Resource Group uses a ladder to enter through the window at Hind’s Hall. Large crowd of Columbia University students is present to protect their peers. @ColumbiaBDS #cu4palestine https://t.co/28MeadhYYD pic.twitter.com/ZbSiKuIMcI
— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) May 1, 2024

It was the university that authorised the raid after protestors refused to disperse before a given deadline. The university said it was “left with no choice” after the hall was “occupied, vandalised and blockaded”.

Nearly 24 hours after the sit-in started, police handcuffed protestors and led them out onto buses, as students nearby shouted ‘shame on you’.

Police said protesters have been cleared from the campus, including a tent camp set up on the university’s lawns for nearly two weeks.

The university in upper Manhattan has been a focal point of student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, demanding that the university divest from Israel.

Over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.