Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after the building was taken over by protesters earlier in the day.
Craig Ruttle/AP
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Craig Ruttle/AP
Using a tactical vehicle, New York City police enter an upper floor of Hamilton Hall on the Columbia University campus in New York, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, after the building was taken over by protesters earlier in the day.
Craig Ruttle/AP
New York police officers cleared student encampments late Tuesday night at two campuses, as pro-Palestinian protests continued to simmer across the country’s higher education institutions.
At Columbia University, New York police used a massive armored vehicle to push a bridge into a window of Hamilton Hall, the building demonstrators began occupying the previous night. Officers then streamed over the bridge into a window — quickly retaking the building.
Elsewhere in New York City, police disbanded an encampment set up at The City College of New York, less than a mile from Columbia. A large number of students were hauled away.
Early Tuesday evening, a large crowd of demonstrators marched from Columbia University to The City College of New York, a school within the City University of New York system. CUNY public safety handled the initial response, arresting 25 individuals, it said.
About 100 protesters were there, including alum Leena Widdi, who said she saw about 20 people arrested as interactions with police turned violent. Though, NYPD has not yet confirmed or denied that, and did not have arrest data available as of 2:50 a.m. Eastern Wednesday.
The police action in New York came as student protests continued across the country’s campuses. In Oregon, Portland State University closed its campus yesterday after protesters took over a library building.
At Brown University, students agreed to end their protest encampment. They took that step after the school said it would hold a vote next October on possible divestment from Israel.
Columbia says occupation was led by people unaffiliated with university
Columbia officials, meanwhile, said the protesters’ occupation of Hamilton Hall was led by outside agitators.
Early Tuesday morning, protesters hid in Hamilton Hall until it closed and let other protesters in. There were two security guards present, who Columbia President Minouche Shafik said the school released from the building.
“We believe that while the group who broke into the building includes students, it is led by individuals who are not affiliated with the University,” she wrote in a letter requesting the New York Police Department’s assistance.
Protesters then chained the doors, used furniture as barricades and used rope to have people outside the building transfer supplies to them, tactics Rebecca Weiner, NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said were taught to other participants.
Some of the protesters have been on the New York Police Department’s radar for years, Weiner said at a press conference Tuesday.
“I’ve been saying for days, if not weeks now, that we should have been a peaceful protest,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. “It has basically been co-opted by professional outside agitators. We were extremely cautious about releasing our intel/information because our goal was to ensure the safety of our students, the faculty, and without any destruction of property.”
Adams said he would not let the occupation turn into a “violent spectacle that serves no purpose,” and urged parents to contact their children to get them to disperse.
“Maybe some of the students involved don’t understand what they are involved in,” he said. “We urge those and everyone else violating Columbia’s order to leave the area and leave the area now.”
Those who entered Hamilton Hall will be charged with burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief and trespassing, while participants who were outside the building will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, NYPD said.
Police initially were present near the university, but did not yet intervene until Shafik’s letter, and asked for them to stay until at least May 17.
“The events on campus last night have left us no choice,” Shafik said Tuesday. “With the support of the University’s Trustees, I have determined that the building occupation, the encampments, and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to persons, property, and the substantial functioning of the University and require the use of emergency authority to protect persons and property.”
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said the department has been in contact with Columbia since protesters set up an encampment in support of Palestinians earlier this month.
“The right to protest and speak your mind is critical to our democracy, and the NYPD’s job is to protect that right, but we will never tolerate violence, property damage or disruption of emergency services,” he said.
NPR’s Brian Mann, Jasmine Garsd and Quil lawrence contributed reporting.