Anti-Israel protesters who set up ‘intifada’ tent camp at state-funded NYC college seen pushing school security in dramatic video
Tensions flared Thursday night at the newly formed “intifada” encampment at the City College of New York as anti-Israel protesters forced a school security guard to retreat from the tent city.
The dramatic scene was captured on video by independent journalist Katie Smith and shows a crowd of protesters surrounding the public safety officer while chanting “We will stay, we will stay!”
With their hands up, the anti-Israel mob forced the guard to walk backwards away from the encampment towards a set of steps where NYPD officers had congregated, the footage shows.
The protesters then formed a wall and ascended the steps, forcing the cops back as well, the video shows.
No arrests were made as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.
The encampment at the state-funded college was set up earlier Thursday – with participants raising a Palestinian flag over the quad.
By the afternoon, the Convent Avenue campus was riddled with flags and signs, video from independent reporter Talia Jane showed. As many as 300 protesters were on campus later in the afternoon.
“Palestine calls this University Intifada,” Within Our Lifetime organizer Nerdeen Kiswani said into a megaphone, per indie reporter Oliya Scootercaster.
“We have a right to control where our tuition goes and that it should never go to oppressing any people anywhere!” Kiswani added in a fiery speech that was shared on the group’s X page.
Several signs in the encampment area demanded that the CUNY system divest from Israel in light of the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
NYPD officers were spotted monitoring the perimeter of the demonstration, which was otherwise mostly calm.
Kiswani warned that attempts to shut down the demonstration would be “met with anger.”
“It will be met with action from people all over New York City,” she told the crowd, Scootercaster posted on X.
One student organizer said the school’s public safety personnel and the NYPD had asked them to disassemble the tents, but insisted that “we aren’t going anywhere, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” a video from Talia Jane showed.
The group CUNY4Palestine urged protesters to mobilize at City College at 4 p.m. over reports CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos was “threatening to send NYPD” to arrest protesters with “no attempts to negotiate with them in good faith.”
Sources told The Post that while the NYPD was in touch with City College officials, no plans have been made to clear the campus.
City College is on spring break until April 30, according to the academic calendar.
It was not immediately clear if all the protesters were affiliated with the school — though CUNY Professor James Hoff wrote on X that there were “lots of faculty and … union members” in attendance.
Also on Thursday afternoon, dozens of people — many of whom were clad in Palestinian headscarves — stormed into a building at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea, according to a video from Citizen Free Press.
Campus security was seen struggling to keep more protesters from entering the academic building as demonstrators set up a makeshift camp area in the lobby.
A popular destination for would-be designers and fashion professionals, FIT is state-funded through the SUNY system.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino
