Over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested during NYPD raid of Columbia University

NEW YORK — Over 200 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested when an army of NYPD cops stormed Columbia University to end the seizure of a school building where all the doors had been barricaded with bicycle locks, officials said Wednesday.

“This is what we encountered on every door inside Hamilton Hall,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said on MSNBC Wednesday with Mayor Adams, holding up one of the heavy chain-link locks. “This is not what students bring to school, OK?”

At the request of Columbia University administrators, hundreds of cops in riot gear entered the campus about 9 p.m. Tuesday, accessing Hamilton Hall through windows.

About 300 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested citywide overnight, NYPD officials said Wednesday. Some 230 of them were busted at Columbia University, about 50 of those inside Hamilton Hall.

Sheppard said that the police raid of Hamilton Hall was a “calm, precise operation.” Charges the protesters could be facing include burglary, trespassing and criminal mischief.

Adams said the student protesters “were trained on how to barricade a location, on what type of locks to use.” Adams has claimed that outside agitators hijacked the protests at Columbia. Cops arrested a woman whose husband is a convicted terrorist at Columbia, Adams said Wednesday.

Videos shared by the NYPD show cops removing chairs and other furniture used as barricades. Students had taken over the building early Tuesday morning amid a weekslong protest on campus over the war between Israel and Hamas.

“A little after 9 p.m. this evening, the NYPD arrived on campus at the university’s request. This decision was made to restore safety and order to our community,” a Columbia spokesman said.

“We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.”

Cops also clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters at City College of New York Tuesday night, clearing a quad and taking dozens of people into custody.

The mass arrests just before midnight followed an announcement the Harlem college would shift to online classes “until further notice,” as the campus continued to be roiled by a pro-Gaza encampment drawing students and faculty from across the City University of New York.

Cops were caught on video taking down a Palestinian flag from the campus and tossing it away, replacing it with an American flag. It was not immediately disclosed how many protesters at CCNY were taken into custody.

The occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia began early Tuesday, hours after the school suspended students who ignored an order to break up their encampment on the campus lawn. It prompted the university to restrict access to the campus, only allowing students who live in dorms and essential services staff to remain.

“These were professionals that were here, and I just want to send a clear message out: There are people who are harmful, who are trying to radicalize our children, and we cannot ignore this,” Adams said, adding that the so-called outside agitators could be coming from abroad.

“These outside influences, I don’t know if they’re international,” he said. “I think we need to look into that as well, but there’s an attempt to radicalize young people in this country.”