Violent pro-terror rioters shouting ‘Intifada!’ smash their way into Columbia University academic building in latest campus chaos

A huge mob of masked pro-terror rioters broke into an academic building at Columbia University and seized it early Tuesday — rebranding the iconic hall named after founding father Alexander Hamilton and draping it with a giant flag calling for “intifada.”

Dozens stormed into Hamilton Hall and sealed themselves in shortly before 1 a.m. — with some using metal barricades, chairs and tables to block others from getting inside, footage posted on social media shows.

One shocking video captured a hammer-wielding demonstrator smashing through a glass-paneled door and placing what appeared to be a bike lock around its handles.

Another clip showed a group roughing up a student who had tried to block anarchists — including some brandishing “Intifada” signs — from getting inside the building.

Once inside, some anti-Israel protesters quickly covered security cameras black trash bags and tape, according to the student-led Columbia Daily Spectator.

As of mid-morning, the rogue rioters were still occupying the building on the South Lawn, which has been the scene of the school’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week, the paper reported.

The escalation prompted Columbia officials to shut down the campus Tuesday, blocking off access to everyone but students who reside there and essential employees.

“Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation — vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances — and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday,’’ Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said in a statement.

The school Monday vowed to suspend encampment law-breakers who had refused to leave the site, including seniors, who would be barred from graduating.

Columbia upped the ante — although barely — Tuesday, with Chang saying, “Students occupying the building face expulsion.”

The suspended students can stay on campus as long as they remain in their dorms, he added at a later online media briefing.

The school has so far refused to call in the NYPD to help handle the chaos caused by what the rep said were “dozens” of occupiers in Hamilton Hall who have helped “interfere with teaching, learning and final exams, which begin this week.”

The school’s president, Minouche Shafik, has been nowhere to be seen during the crisis.

A Jewish security guard at Columbia told The Post on Tuesday that he was new to the job — and he already regrets taking the gig.

“It’s beyond astonishing to me,” the Allied security worker said while on campus, speaking through a gate.

“I feel like I’m in Nuremberg,” he said, referring to the German city, a key Nazi stronghold during World War II, as student protesters shouted through megaphone steps away from him.

“They’re talking about the destruction of the Jewish people, destruction of Israel.”

“It was probably a mistake. I’d say it was a mistake,” he said about taking the job.

During Hamilton Hall’s takeover, hundreds of protesters swarmed outside the campus building, where some foreign-language classes are typically held, with some linking arms to form a human chain blocking its entrance.

“Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go,” protesters outside the building could be heard chanting during the wild scenes, according to footage posted to X by an independent news blog.

“We will not leave until Columbia meets every one of our demands,” others raged.

The dramatic takeover of the building — which was also occupied during 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests on the campus — came hours after Columbia finally began suspending students who refused to vacate the tent encampment that brought campus life to a halt.

When the group initially barged into the building in the early hours, several campus facilities workers were still inside. The protesters removed some of the barricades to let them out.

A man frantically called 911 during the mayhem to say he was a professor stuck inside, law-enforcement sources said.

“Hundreds of college students are taking over [Hamilton Hall], destroying it, breaking windows, causing commotion,” the caller said.

Finnegan McNinch, a senior Columbia student, told The Post he witnessed the crazy scene.

“It was an uncontrolled riot. I saw them assault several students,” McNinch said of the protesters.

“When someone dies or gets seriously injured, it will be on the administration’s hands for coddling the protesters up to this point. We need the NYPD on campus as soon as possible. Students aren’t safe.”

One of the workers yelled, “They held me hostage!” as he left the building and smacked somebody’s camera, the student newspaper reported.

“They swarmed the building,” one of the workers told Politico. “I got into a scuffle with a couple of them. They finally let us out,” the staffer added, showing off a cut on their hand.

Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Columbia University’s anti-Israel protest

Four protesters wearing masks over their heads then lowered a banner reading “Hind’s Hall” from a window overlooking the cheering crowd.

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ‘Hamilton Hall,’ in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest, an student-led anti-Israel group, posted on X.

Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl, was killed in Gaza alongside the two paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society who tried to rescue her in January when the car she was in was allegedly struck by Israeli gunfire.

The ambulance was bombed as it was “just meters” from reaching the vehicle, the Red Crescent said in a statement at the time. The little girl’s body was found 12 days later in the car riddled with bullet holes.

After the banner was unraveled, the group at Columbia broke out into chants of “Free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “Columbia, you will see — Palestine is almost free.”

The holed-up protesters were seen receiving supplies by a makeshift pulley system involving a rope and milk crate through a window Tuesday.

Columbia officials haven’t publicly said how they plan to address the latest wave of violence.

It also wasn’t immediately clear when or even if the NYPD would be called in to clear out the rioters.

Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at Columbia University:

• Outspoken Columbia Professor Shai Davidai says he feels safer in ‘war zone’ Tel Aviv than in NYC

• Eric Adams warns ‘outside agitators’ descended on Columbia campus to radicalize students as over 100 arrested: ‘A global problem’

• Inside Columbia’s ‘vandalized’ Hamilton Hall, where pro-terror protesters came face to face with riot police

• US colleges where students have been arrested over anti-Israel protests

The wild escalation erupted nearly 12 hours after hundreds of Columbia students defied the Ivy League school’s 2 p.m. ultimatum to vacate their sprawling tent encampment.

That followed the deadline repeatedly being pushed back at the school, which has already been forced to hold all classes virtually for the rest of the semester because of safety fears.

Shafik had warned students would be suspended if they didn’t clear out — but it still took several hours past the deadline for the punishments to be doled out.

Still, hordes of defiant and pampered protesters — including some who were munching protein bars and beating tambourines — dug their heels in and refused to vacate.

NYPD officers stationed nearby were not called in to clear them.

Officials wouldn’t say how many students had been disciplined.

The wild scenes at Columbia’s campus come as universities across the US are grappling with how to clear out similar encampments.

Unlike at Columbia, dozens of people were cuffed and hauled away by cops Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia.

Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai, who was barred from campus last week after trying to lead a pro-Jewish rally, was among those to rip the Ivy League school’s president and board in the wake of the latest developments.

“Yet again, Columbia failed to follow through on its promise to protect its Jewish and Israelis students,” Davidai fired off in a tweet.

He accused Shafik and other board leaders of single-handedly ruining “270 years of impeccable academic reputation in less than 7 months.”

“They are not leaders. They are cowards who lack a moral backbone. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

“Hamas will likely lose the battle of Gaza, but it has won the battle of Columbia.”

Students too raged that the school wasn’t doing more to crack down on the demonstrations as finals approached.

“My thesis is due tonight at midnight,” 26-year-old student Taylor Francisco told The Post. “I was planning on going to office hours with my thesis adviser to talk about some last-minute changes and I don’t think I will be able to do that.”

“They’re turning us away,” added Francisco, who is seeking her master’s in quantitative methods and social sciences. “It’s very disruptive. This is really disrupting academia.”

Additional reporting by Steven Vago, Joe Marino and Kate Sheehy