A group of Jewish students were forced to flee from a braying crowd of pro-Palestinian activists at a New York City university on Wednesday. They locked themselves in a library while the crowd hammered on the door.
Ugly scenes unfolded Wednesday afternoon at Cooper Union, a liberal college near Astor Place in Manhattan.
Initially, a crowd was held in the building’s lobby chanting “Free, Free Palestine.”
But they rushed past a guard, who shouted hopelessly, “No!”
They then rushed up the stairs and hammered on the door of the library, where the Jewish students had taken refuge. The people in the library were later released.
No one was injured and the protest has dispersed. The messenger reported.
An NYPD source told DailyMail.com that no arrests have been made.
A pro-Palestinian mob is seen storming past a guard on Wednesday, shouting: ‘Free, free Palestine’
Upstairs, a group of Jewish students had taken refuge in the library: the crowd could be heard banging on the door
Cooper Union, on Astor Place in the heart of Manhattan, was rocked by a pro-Palestinian protest on Wednesday
Outside the college on Wednesday evening, a passerby could be seen tearing away a pro-Palestine sign placed next to posters highlighting the plight of those kidnapped by Hamas.
The sign read: ‘Killing children is justified???’
NYPD officers were seen entering the building and standing outside.
DailyMail.com has contacted Cooper Union for comment.
Kim Newman, a spokesperson for the college, told The Messenger that the library was temporarily “closed” as protesters marched through the building.
She said all students are “spread out.”
“The library was closed for about 20 minutes while student protesters moved through our building,” she said.
‘Some students who were previously in the library have remained during this period. All students have now dispersed.’
Posters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip lie on the ground, alongside posters calling for the release of the 200 hostages currently held by Hamas
The student protest comes amid intense tensions on campuses across the country due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Academics have swept in: a geneticist at Washington University in Missouri sparked outrage by claiming Israel was carrying out a “much-needed purge” in Gaza, while a law professor at Berkeley called on law firms not to hire “my anti-Semitic students.”
Last week, a climate scientist who teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago issued a groveling apology after calling Israelis “pigs,” “savages” and “irredeemable excrement.”
Dr. Mika Tosca, who describes herself on social media as “Chicago’s radically optimistic transsexual climate scientist,” published a screed on her Instagram Story on Tuesday.
‘Israelis are pigs. Wanted,” she wrote. ‘Very bad people. Irrecoverable feces.”
She apologized Wednesday, saying she rejected her own words and wanted to retract them.
“Yesterday I wrote some things on my Instagram Story that I unequivocally reject and do not support,” she wrote.
“I am deeply sorry that I wrote what I wrote, and that I hurt many people with my words, and I am especially sorry to the Israeli people that I am largely responsible for the war.
“You didn’t deserve that, you don’t deserve that, and it was wrong to post what I posted: I know my words perpetuated harmful stereotypes.”
At Harvard University, the Palestine Solidarity Committee has been condemned for releasing a letter on October 7, co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations, stating: ‘We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence . ‘
Some of the signatories have been named and shamed, and billionaire financier Bill Ackman is demanding that companies refuse to hire them.
Harvard’s president has apologized for the statement, saying it does not represent the university’s views.
Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania are doing their utmost to limit the fallout: The schools could lose $487 million in funding, based on current and past donations from those now speaking out against the students for defending Hamas attacks .
On Friday, a professor at Cornell University in upstate New York who called Hamas’s terrorist attacks “exciting and energizing” announced that he has taken a leave of absence and will not return to class for the rest of the year.
Russell Rickford told an Oct. 15 rally in Ithaca Commons, the city’s shopping district, that he was excited about Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed 1,400 Israelis.
His words were met with anger, and Rickford, a history professor, tried to explain – and doubled down on his outrageous views.
He said he condemned the killing of civilians, but said he was angry about “the injustice and hypocrisy of Western support in celebrating Israeli war crimes, and the equating of any form of Palestinian resistance with terrorism.”
Rickford later apologized, saying on October 18 that he regretted “the terrible choice of words I used,” calling his language “reprehensible.”
A Cornell professor with a history of radical left views called Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel “exciting” and “enervating” during a pro-Palestinian rally on October 15. He apologized on October 18, but announced on October 20 that he was taking a leave of absence
Tamika Nunley, associate professor of history, will replace him.
“Professor Rickford is taking a leave of absence and I will assume teaching responsibilities for this course for the remainder of the semester,” she wrote on Oct. 20 in an email obtained by The Cornell Review.
The university confirmed he would not be teaching for the remainder of the semester.
“Professor Russell Rickford has requested and received permission to take a leave of absence from the university,” the university spokesperson said.
Claudia Tenney, a Republican congresswoman whose district borders Cornell, said Rickford’s leave was insufficient and he should resign.
“Since I sent a letter to Cornell President Martha Pollack demanding that Professor Russell Rickford resign over his anti-Semitic comments, he has taken a leave of absence,” she wrote on X.
“Cornell should go one step further and fire him for his pro-Hamas statements!”