VIDEO Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia University, epicenter of US campus protests

New York police raided Columbia University late Tuesday to arrest several pro-Palestinian protesters who had occupied an academic building, and to break up a protest camp that the school had been unsuccessfully trying to break up for nearly two weeks. writes Reuters.

Within three hours, the campus was cleared of protesters, a police spokesman said, adding that “dozens” of arrests had been made.

Soon after, University President Minouche Shafik issued a letter asking police to remain on campus until at least May 17 – two days after graduation – “to maintain order and ensure that the camps are not re-established.” .

The raid involved a significant effort. Scores of police swarmed the campus — some marching toward Hamilton Hall, an academic building occupied by protesters since Tuesday.

Police entered through a second floor window using a vehicle equipped with a ladder.

All the while, students outside the hall booed the police with cries of “Shame, shame!”.

Police were later seen loading dozens of arrested people onto a bus, each with their hands tied behind their backs. “Free Palestine, free, free, free”, chanted the protesters in front of the building.

“Columbia will be proud of these students five years from now,” said Sweda Polat, one of the students representing Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of student groups that organized the protests.

She said the students were not a danger and asked the police to stand down, speaking as officers shouted at her and others to leave the campus.

The Columbia University raid came a day after police arrested dozens of protesters at the University of Texas at Austin.

What do the protesters want?

The protesters demanded three things from Columbia University’s leadership: to stop investing in companies that have ties to Israel or operate in Israel, greater transparency in the university’s finances, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined because of the protests.

President Shafik said this week that the University will not abandon the investment. In return, it offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and make Colombia’s holdings more transparent.

In his public letter on Tuesday, Shafik said the protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall vandalized university property and trespassed on public property, and the protesters at the camp were suspended for trespassing on public property.

The university previously warned that students participating in the Hamilton Hall occupation risked being expelled.

The occupation began overnight when protesters smashed windows, forced their way inside and unfurled a banner reading “Hind’s Hall”, saying they were renaming the building after a 6-year-old Palestinian boy killed in Gaza by the Israeli army .

The building was the site of several student protests in the 1960s.

But at a news conference hours before police entered Columbia, Mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall occupation was instigated by “outside agitators” with no affiliation to Columbia and who are known to law enforcement for causing public disorder.

“The campus unrest has created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning and preparation for final exams,” the university said Tuesday, before police intervened.

One of the student leaders who led the protest, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student attending Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, disputed claims that foreigners led the occupation.

A divisive debate

The pro-Palestinian rallies have sparked intense debate on campuses about where school officials should draw the line between free speech and hate speech.

Students protesting Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, including some Jewish peace activists, have said they are being censored as anti-Semitic simply for criticizing the Israeli government or expressing support for Palestinian rights.

Other Jewish groups, however, argue that anti-Israel rhetoric frequently turns into, or fuels, overt forms of anti-Jewish hatred and calls for violence, and therefore should not be tolerated.

Pressure on the leadership of Columbia University, an elite Ivy League university in Upper Manhattan, had increased significantly.

Politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, called on the leadership to resign or take action.

“What continues to happen in Columbia is an absolute disgrace,” tweeted former US House Speaker Mike Johnson on X. “The campus is overrun by anti-Semitic students and faculty alike,” he said.