Dramatic before-and-after photos show Columbia University’s anti-Israel tent city finally gone after NYPD raid
Dramatic photos show the massive tent city set up by anti-Israel protesters on Columbia University’s iconic lawn completely cleared Wednesday after police stormed the campus and arrested members of a pro-terror mob.
Not a single tent was left standing on the Manhattan Ivy League school’s West Lawn next to Butler Library in the wake of the NYPD’s response to a violent occupation of nearby Hamilton Hall Tuesday night, photos reveal.
Instead of rows of tents, grass from the university’s once-green lawn could be seen checkered with faded yellowish rectangles where the structures had been pitched.
Trampled brown grass could be seen between the rows of cleared-out tents, where hundreds of demonstrators had congregated.
An aerial shot of the encampment — which brought campus life to a halt as anti-Israel protests raged for weeks — previously showed dozens of tents erected on tarps next to apparent trash and supplies.
Students were reeling Wednesday morning after cops ousted the group of rioters — which Mayor Eric Adams said included “outside agitators” — who smashed windows, hung an “intifada” banner and destroyed furniture while occupying Hamilton Hall for nearly 24 hours.
“I’m definitely concerned for my fellow students here because a lot of the students here have never experienced this disconcerting mob mentality,” junior Drake Harding-Paul told The Post.
“I definitely don’t feel safe on campus,” he said, adding that university leaders should have called the police long ago to clear the tent city that sprung up on campus about two weeks ago.
“I think the response last night was long overdue. I really do think it should have happened along time ago.”
The tent city was a distraction that caused some students to be cut off from access to school resources, he said.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on anti-Israel protests on campuses across the US
“If you live off campus, you are not allowed on campus, which is a complete alienation. We pay tuition, we are students here, we are not allowed access to what we paid for,” he said.
“We still can’t access campus today and I have finals due on Friday.”
Rory Wilson, a senior, said he and others tried to block a mob of violent protesters from entering Hamilton Hall on Monday.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the pro-terror protests at colleges across the US:
“They were very much harassing us and manhandling us — enough, I believe, to qualify assault,” he said. “I was also saying I have the right to protest your protest.”
He added, “It’s unfortunate that it came to this because it obviously has been enormously disruptive to student life.”
University officials Tuesday finally called on police for help with the devolving situation on campus.
More than 100 protesters were arrested as hundreds of police stormed the campus at around 9 p.m.
On Wednesday, a lawn next to the area where the encampment stood was apparently being prepped for a graduation ceremony Wednesday.
