Hundreds of NYPD officers dressed in riot gear stormed Columbia University to break up pro-Palestinian camps.
Reports indicate that police overran the Ivy League campus in New York City and launched an attack toward Hamilton Hall, which students took over by force early Tuesday.
The action comes after Columbia leaders asked the NYPD to come to campus and make arrests.
The protests began on April 17 after university president Minouche Shafik was summoned before Congress to address anti-Semitism on campus.
Video from the campus showed hundreds of officers in riot gear and armed with zip-tie handcuffs surrounding the campus. Around 9 p.m., the officers stormed the university as the crowd chanted and shouted at them. Some confronted officers and pushed barricades in an attempt to stop police.
Hundreds of NYPD riot police stormed the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University
The operation came after a rogue group of protesters entered the university’s historic Hamilton Hall to stage an overnight occupation.
The use of police was condemned by the Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
The stunt was the latest escalation of the unrest that has rocked the school in recent weeks.
Activists have been camping on the Ivy League school’s South Lawns since April 17.
Protesters are demanding that the council divest companies with ties to Israel or companies that profit from the war against Hamas.
University officials have fought to close the encampment, saying it violates university policy.
After the occupation of Hamilton Hall, President Minouche Shafik warned that those involved would be deported.
More than a hundred activists have been arrested at the school since the camp began.
A first encampment was broken up by NYPD officers. But university officials had vowed not to take similar action for the current protest.
They gave the students an ultimatum to leave, but few followed the instructions.
“We will not leave until Columbia meets all our demands,” one activist shouted from a balcony in the building after the takeover.
Students linked arms as they vowed to defend the encampment before encountering police
Students were warned that non-compliance ‘may result in further discipline’ as officers dressed in riot gear descended
Officials then began suspending students before a group invaded Hamilton Hall.
However, it is the escalation of the tactics that prompted the university to call in the police.
Officers were seen Tuesday evening preparing zip ties and handcuffs next to metal barriers.
The move was condemned by the Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which said its members had been locked out of campus.
“The presence of the NYPD in our neighborhood puts our entire community at risk. Armed police entering our campus endangers students and everyone else on campus,” the statement said.
“We hold university leadership accountable for the disastrous errors of judgment that have brought us to this point.”
The statement added that the faculty had made significant efforts to defuse the situation but had been “rebuffed or ignored.”
At a press conference ahead of the raid Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner warned that the protest had been co-opted by outside agitators not affiliated with the university.
Police closed an earlier encampment in Columbia, and the university vowed not to take similar action in the future. However, an escalation in protest tactics appears to have reversed this decision. In the photo: Police mobilize in Columbia on Tuesday
A warning was issued for the Morningside campus, which was just beginning to mobilize Tuesday evening
Protesters are demanding that the council divest companies with ties to Israel or companies that profit from the war against Hamas
She emphasized that the occupation is the potential to spread to other campus buildings, as well as other universities across the country.
“This is not about what is happening abroad, it is not about the last seven months, it is about a completely different commitment to sometimes violent protest activities such as occupation,” she said.
“They have no right to be on campus and this is against university policy and most importantly, it puts students, the university and the communities at risk.
“Given what we saw last night, we believe these tactics are the result of the mentoring of students by these outside actors.”