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Mayor Eric Adams said the police were needed because pro-Palestinian students had been “co-opted” by outside agitators, even as Columbia closed off the campus to everyone except to residents and essential personnel.
By Gwynne Hogan, and Katie Honan
The New York City Police Department arrested dozens of people as it attempted to clear out protest encampments at the City College of New York and at Columbia University on Tuesday night, hours after Mayor Eric Adams urged students to walk away.
At Columbia, dozens of police in riot gear entered the campus in Manhattan around 9 p.m. forcing those still in a campus plaza into adjoining buildings and blocking them inside, while others locked arms and sang “we shall not be moved” in front of Hamilton Hall.
At the City College campus farther north in Harlem, dozens of officers who’d arrived hours earlier began arresting demonstrators at an encampment there at around 11 p.m., according to reporters on the scene. City College announced earlier on Tuesday that classes would be held remotely beginning on Wednesday, with campus buildings closed except to essential personnel. It’s unclear how many people were arrested, but by by 12:30 police had cleared the encampment.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry tweeted a video of police officers taking down a Palestinian flag from the flagpole and stringing up an American Flag, describing it as “an incredible scene and proud moment as we have assisted @CityCollegeNY in restoring order on campus.”
A spokesperson for CUNY early Wednesday said in a statement that public safety was endangered over the last six weeks following “a series of violent incidents.”
That includes a fire Sunday night at a science building caused by a flare gun and an attempted break-in at another campus building, according to the spokesperson.
CUNY’s own police officers arrested 25 people outside campus as a large group of demonstrators marched from Columbia.
“As the crowd grew in size, CUNY and CCNY leadership made the difficult decision to request NYPD assistance,” the spokesperson said. “NYPD entered at approximately 11:45 p.m. and arrested a number of individuals.” Earlier in the day, university leadership sent a letter to the NYPD authorizing their access to campus.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a cohort of Columbia students had broken into iconic Hamilton hall, barricaded themselves inside, a move that pushed Columbia to restrict access to campus Tuesday and then to call in the police for a second time. The student demonstrators had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of a young Palestinian girl who was killed.
A spokesperson for the university said in a statement that it had requested the NYPD come to campus “to restore safety and order to our community.”
“We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions,” the spokesperson said. “After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice.”
As dozens of officers in riot gear entered campus from various locked gates, others were seen entering the occupied building through a second story window via a ladder. NYPD officers forced all students left in the plaza outside Hamilton Hall into adjacent buildings, blocking them inside, and arrested those who’d linked arms in front of the hall.
A video from FreedomNews.TV showed one demonstrator hurled down the steps of the hall. A medic and Columbia student who declined to provide her name said she watched the girl fall and tried to provide medical assistance to the girl but was blocked by police.
As dozens of officers in riot gear entered campus via locked gates, others were seen entering the occupied building through a second-story window via a ladder.
Politicians who’ve expressed sympathy with the demonstrators condemned the arrests even as they were ongoing, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx/Queens) tweeting: “If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents.”
The harsh approach, she continued was “the opposite of leadership” and “a nightmare in the making.”
Former President Donald Trump praised the NYPD response in a Fox News call-in, while declaring that “people have to respect law and order in this country. They don’t respect it anymore.”
Ahead of the arrests, Columbia University issued a “shelter in place” warning to students on Tuesday, repeating warnings to student protestors that they could be suspended or expelled if they continued. Administrators also requested the NYPD remain on campus through May 17, according to a letter they sent to the police department.
As police gathered at the campus perimeter before moving in, Sueda Polat, a graduate student at Columbia who’d served as a spokesperson and lead negotiator for the demonstrators over the past two weeks, yelled into a bullhorn to those still gathered in the plaza.
“We resisted in the most glorious way possible,” she said. “It’s been nearly two weeks. The university called us again, ‘Accept, accept what we’ve given you’ and we said, ‘No,'” to the cheers of students looking on.
Police remained on campus for several hours, eventually escorting students at a CITY reporter who were blocked inside one building off campus.
As the dust settled, Linnea Norton, a 26-year-old ecology student, recalled watching the encampment grow over the past two weeks and seeing messages of support students had received from other college campuses and even from Gaza. On a recent sunny afternoon in the encampment, she’d played bluegrass music with another student, watched her friend’s child fly a kite, and listened to a lecture recorded by deceased Palestinian-American philosopher Edward Said.
“It was just so lovely and it’s just so sad that that is so threatening to people,” she said.
‘This Must End Now’
The campus sweeps culminated two weeks of demonstrations at New York City college campuses, and beyond. It marked the second time Columbia had authorized police to enter campus. An NYPD spokesperson late Tuesday could not confirm total arrest numbers.
Mayor Eric Adams and top NYPD officials claimed in a briefing at One Police Plaza hours before the raid that the protestors overtaking Hamilton Hall showed that the student movement had been “co-opted.”
“I’m urging every student and every protestor to walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,” Mayor Adams said. “This must end now.”
Adams blamed “professional outside agitators” who he said are “here to create discord and divisiveness.”
Police Commissioner Edward Caban said there were “professional external actors” on campus, even after the university locked the school down on Tuesday, limiting access only to people who live on campus and to essential personnel.
“These people are not Columbia students,” Caban said. “They are not affiliated with the university, and they are working to escalate the situation.”
The commissioner added that the people inside Hamilton Hall would be charged with burglary, criminal mischief and trespassing, while those encamped outside would be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Earlier on Tuesday, pro-Palestinian protesters at another Ivy League college, Brown University in Providence, R.I., reached a deal to clear out its encampment after the school’s administration agreed to hold a vote on divesting from companies that support the Israeli military.
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