Columbia protesters barricade themselves inside university building
Pro-Palestinian protesters have barricaded themselves inside a building on the New York campus of Columbia University after defying a deadline to leave.
Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus.
Posts on an Instagram page for protest organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.
“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ‘Hamilton Hall’, in honour of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest posted on X, formerly Twitter, early Tuesday.
The student radio station, WKCR-FM, broadcasted a play-by-play of the hall’s takeover, which occurred nearly 12 hours after Monday’s 2pm deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of around 120 tents or face suspension.
Representatives for the university did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the X post, protesters said they planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to their demands to divest of Israel, demonstrate financial transparency and offer amnesty for students who have defied university orders to cease protesting.
Universities across the US are grappling with how to clear out encampments, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.
Dozens of people were arrested Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia, while Columbia said hours before the takeover of Hamilton Hall that it had started suspending students.
Demonstrators are protesting over the Israel-Hamas war and its mounting death toll. The number of arrests at campuses nationwide is approaching 1,000 as the final days of class wrap up.
The outcry is forcing colleges to reconsider their financial ties to Israel, as well as their support for free speech. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into anti-Semitism and have made them afraid to set foot on campus.
At the University of Texas in Austin, an attorney said at least 40 demonstrators were arrested on Monday. The confrontation was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state’s capital, where more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.
Later on Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear at the University of Utah sought to break up an encampment outside the university president’s office that went up in the afternoon.
Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Seventeen people were arrested.
The university said it was against its rules to camp overnight on school property and that the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.
The plight of students who have been arrested has become a central part of protests, with the students and a growing number of faculty demanding amnesty.
It is currently at issue whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students through their adult lives.
The Texas protest and others, including in Canada and Europe, grew out of Columbia’s early demonstrations that have since continued.
On Monday, student activists defied the 2pm deadline to leave the encampment. Instead, hundreds of protesters remained.
A handful of counter-demonstrators waved Israeli flags, and one held a sign reading, “Where are the anti-Hamas chants?”
While the university didn’t call police to roust the demonstrators, Ben Chang, a spokesman for the university, said suspensions had started but provided few details.
Northwestern University said it reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago.
It will allow peaceful demonstrations until the June 1 end of spring classes and in exchange, requires removal of all tents except one for aid, and restricts the demonstration area to allow only students, faculty and staff.
At the University of Southern California, organisers of a large encampment sat down with Carol Folt, the university’s president, for about 90 minu tes on Monday. Ms Folt declined to discuss details but said she heard the concerns of protesters and talks would continue Tuesday.
