Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Columbia College

New York police have arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters after they occupied a part of the primary library at Columbia College on Wednesday.

Two college safety officers had been injured when protesters compelled their approach into Butler Library on Wednesday, in keeping with a press release from College President Claire Shipman, who referred to as their actions “outrageous”.

Video posted on social media confirmed chanting protesters coming into the library, many sporting keffiyeh headscarves and masks, defying a ban imposed by the Trump administration.

Mrs Shipman mentioned she requested the NYPD for help, and added that most of the protesters weren’t college students.

Greater than 70 protesters had been arrested by the police, Columbia Spectator, a campus newspaper, reported.

“On the direct request of Columbia College, the NYPD is responding to an ongoing state of affairs on campus the place people have occupied a library and are trespassing,” the NYPD posted on X.

Movies of the protests confirmed protesters vandalising bookshelves by writing “free Palestine”.

One other clip confirmed public security officers blocking the library door’s exit and asking these inside to point out their Columbia IDs or face arrest, which led to an hours- lengthy standoff.

Columbia’s president mentioned that whereas the protest was remoted to at least one room within the library, “it’s fully unacceptable that some people are selecting to disrupt tutorial actions as our college students are learning and getting ready for closing exams”.

Mrs Shipman, who took over the position in March after the earlier president resigned, requested college students to avoid the library.

“We won’t tolerate hate or violence in any kind in our metropolis,” New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams mentioned in a publish on X.

In a publish on social media, the protestors accused the college of “violent repression” and mentioned that that they had refused to point out their IDs to police and campus public security officers.

It marks the primary time that Columbia College has referred to as the NYPD for an on-campus protest since April 2024, when pro-Palestinian protesters occupied Hamilton Corridor for practically 24 hours.

Columbia has drawn ire from US President Donald Trump, who claims many universities have tolerated antisemitism and harassment of Jewish college students.

Trump has already threatened to withhold some $400m (£309m) in federal funding for Columbia, as his administration continues to focus on these concerned in earlier campus protests with deportation.

In March, Columbia agreed to a number of calls for from the Trump administration, together with a ban on face masks at protests and a change in oversight of some tutorial programmes, after the administration mentioned it deliberate to withhold hundreds of thousands in federal funds.

It’s unclear whether or not the funds shall be reinstated, although a lawsuit was filed by a few of the college members over the cuts.

The New York school was the epicentre of pro-Palestinian protests towards the warfare in Gaza and US assist for Israel on school campuses final yr.

On Tuesday, Trump additionally terminated $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds to Harvard College after ordering a evaluation of its federal financing.

The Trump administration has warned 60 universities that funding could also be cancelled if allegations of antisemitism on campuses aren’t addressed.