NYPD cops descend on NYU anti-Israel protest and start arresting dozens of students and faculty members who set up ‘Gaza Solidarity’ camp to join with Columbia University rally

The NYPD arrested dozens of NYU students and faculty members who were protesting and demanding that the university divest from all Israel-related interests under a “Gaza solidarity; encampment.

Officers dressed in riot gear used zip ties to detain protesters and marched them into police buses after warnings to leave the area were ignored.

The protest, involving hundreds, began at 6 a.m. with a group setting up tents at Gould Plaza at NYU.

The numbers grew throughout Monday, with hundreds of anti-Israel activists gathering near nightfall.

It culminated in clashes with law enforcement over the university’s investment policies.

In a statement on Instagram on Monday, New York University officials warned protesters to clear the plaza by 4 p.m. or face consequences. The mass arrests started around 8:30 p.m

Pro-Palestinian students and faculty at NYU occupied a campus square on Monday, declaring it a solidarity camp for Gaza

The Palestinian flag fluttered in the wind next to NYU’s

The Protestants included both students and faculty members

A large group of protesters have set up a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ at NYU

In a statement on Instagram on Monday, New York University officials warned protesters to clear the plaza by 4 p.m. or face consequences.

The mass arrests started around 8:30 p.m.

The protests have pitted students against each other, with pro-Palestinian students demanding that their schools condemn the Israeli attack on Gaza and divest companies that sell weapons to Israel.

Some Jewish students, meanwhile, say much of the criticism of Israel has turned to anti-Semitism and made them feel unsafe, and they point out that Hamas is still holding hostages taken during the group’s Oct. 7 invasion.

The protesters called on New York University to divest from Israel

The protest started as early as six in the morning, but by the evening hundreds were involved

Uptown, Columbia University canceled in-person classes. Elsewhere, dozens of protesters were arrested at Yale, while the gates of Harvard Yard were closed to the public on Monday.

The various actions followed last week’s arrest of more than a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters camped on Columbia’s green, as schools grapple with where to draw the line between allowing free speech and maintaining a safe and inclusive campus.

In addition to the demonstrations at Ivy League schools, pro-Palestinian encampments have also sprung up on other campuses, including at the University of Michigan, New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a North Carolina Democrat who visited Columbia with three other Jewish members of Congress, told reporters after meeting with students from the Jewish Law Students Association that there was “a huge camp of people” representing about a third of the green.

A large group of protesters have set up a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ on a central lawn at Columbia University

Days of pro-Palestinian protests have roiled New York’s prestigious Columbia University

Universities have become the focus of an intense cultural debate in the United States since the October 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s overwhelming military response to it

“We saw signs saying that Israel must be destroyed,” she said after leaving the Morningside Heights campus.

A woman inside the campus gates led about two dozen demonstrators into the streets, shouting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” – a loaded phrase that can mean vastly different things to different groups. Meanwhile, a small group of pro-Israel counter-protesters protested nearby.

University President Minouche Shafik said in a message to the school community on Monday that she was “deeply saddened” by what happened on campus.

“To de-escalate the resentment and give us all an opportunity to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will take place virtually on Monday,” Shafik wrote, noting that students who do not live on campus should leave to stay.