0
0
April 30. 2024 – Morningside Heights, NY: By APB Staff Crew DEVELOPING STORY Hundreds of New York City police officers descended on Columbia University Tuesday night to clear out the dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters and outside groups who were on campus protesting the war in Gaza.
The protestors along with demonstrators have been calling on schools to divest from companies doing business with Israel which many experts say is complicated and not really possible. The NYPD assembled around 9 PM and then entered Columbia’s campus at the request of the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, who authorized the NYPD to “clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments.”
Within 30 minutes, police officers entered Hamilton Hall and zip tied the protesters hands behind their and led them off to awaiting buses to be processed. The school newspaper reported that members of the NYPD drew their hand guns when inside but that has not been confirmed. In a letter to the New York City Police Department on Tuesday, Shafik — who is facing mounting pressure to resolve this prior to graduation day – requested that officers maintain a presence on Columbia’s campus “through at least May 17th to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished.”
APB has been gathering footage all night long and has viewed posted videos showing officers shoving and dragging protesters. One protester could be seen falling down a set of steps outside of Hamilton Hall.
A statement from a Columbia spokesperson said officers entered the campus at the university’s request. “After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the spokesperson said.
The action at Columbia on Tuesday came on the 56th anniversary of a similar clearing of an occupation of Hamilton Hall by civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protesters in 1968.
As all of this unfolded, the NYPD was also called in to stop protests at The City College of New York, part of the City University of New York CUNY system. APB witnessed protesters in a standoff with officers outside the college’s main gate, just blocks away from Columbia, and officers shoving some as they cleared people from the street and sidewalks.
CCNY President Boudreau requested the NYPD to enter its campus, in part, as he explained in a letter to the NYPD posted online, because protesters had refused to take down a Palestinian flag they’d affixed to the campus flagpole.
The flag was replaced by the American flag later at night.
