NYPD officers with batons and wearing helmets have entered the main lawn of Columbia University, where students protesting the war in Gaza had set up a two-day encampment zone.
Hundreds of cops are heading on campus with several “school buses” standing by, ostensibly for potential arrests. There is loud chanting from protesters on campus.
Tensions have been climbing at Columbia University amid clashes with the the police and student suspensions over a two-day pro-Palestinian encampment on campus protesting the war in Gaza.
At least three pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University were suspended Thursday, while some protesters outside the campus gates were taken into custody, university officials and cops said.
The heightened campus tensions came the day after university president Minouche Shafik defended the administration’s response to campus antisemitism before Congress.
“Students who are participating in the unauthorized encampment are suspended,” a university spokesperson said in a statement. “We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out formal notifications.”
Student organizers quickly blasted the suspensions in a press release and on social media, which they said means students have lost access to their food, housing and medical center.
“As of a few minutes ago, I received notice from Barnard administration that I had been suspended for my involvement in the illicit solidarity encampment,” Maryam Iqbal said in a clip posted to Instagram.
“I want to make it very clear to Columbia administration and Barnard administration that I refuse to be silenced in my demand for divestment, and I will remain vocally opposed to genocide in Gaza,” said Iqbal, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, which was kicked off campus in the fall. “Barnard and Columbia will look back at this moment and capitalize on the legacy of their student activists, as they always do, and we will not allow for this to be co opted when that time comes.”
Those arrested outside the campus gates Thursday slept on the street in support of the encampment, the student group said.
Students pledged that the demonstration, called the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, will remain until the university meets their demand to divest Columbia’s finances from companies and institutions that profit from Israel. Signs declared the encampment a “liberated zone,” and demanded “ceasefire now” and “free Palestine,” according to photos shared with the Daily News on Thursday morning.
The campus is closed to the public all this week, with a Columbia ID necessary to enter the entryway gates, according to university communications.
Students spent the night in a series of green tents on the lawn, despite the rain, according to the student group. As of Thursday morning, Students for Justice in Palestine said Columbia administrators had agreed to one of their demands to provide financial transparency on investments.
Three people were arrested outside the campus gates on Wednesday night.
After the congressional hearing, about 125 pro-Israel and 100 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Broadway, with one pro-Palestinian protester arrested who ignored repeated requests by police to lower the 15-foot pole for safety reasons, the individual and cops said. Another protester was arrested for assaulting a police officer.
“We are devoid of any fear right now,” the group said in a statement on social media. “We have the student collective mobilizing behind us. And this has given us immense power. We have the control now.”