Dozens of anti-Israel protesters broke into an academic building at Columbia University and took it over early Tuesday morning – hours after the school began suspending students who refused to vacate their encampment.
Footage posted on social media shows numerous protesters milling about inside Hamilton Hall with some placing wooden chairs and tables in front of the doors to block others from entering shortly before 1 a.m.
A photo published by the Columbia Daily Spectator, the student newspaper, shows a masked protester reaching through broken windows to zip-tie the doors shut.
The rogue group who made it inside tossed their belongings on the floor and then immediately began working to barricade themselves inside the building located along the South Lawn, which has been the scene of the school’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week.
The protesters even covered security cameras inside Hamilton Hall with tape and black trash bags, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.
When they barged into the building, several workers were still inside.
The protesters removed some of the barricades to let them out. One of the workers yelled “they held me hostage” as he left the building and smacked somebody’s camera, according to the student newspaper.
“Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go,” protesters outside Hamilton Hall can be heard chanting during the wild scene, according to footage posted to X by an independent news blog.