Dozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University (CU) in New York early yesterday, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.
Video footage showed protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early yesterday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus.
Posts on an Instagram page for protest organizers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall.
Photo: AFP
“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as “Hamilton Hall,” in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted on X early yesterday.
The student radio station, WKCR-FM, broadcast a play-by-play of the hall’s takeover — which occurred nearly 12 hours after Monday’s 2pm deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of about 120 tents or face suspension.
Representatives for the university did not immediately respond to e-mails requesting comment early yesterday, but Public Safety said in a statement that members of the university community who can avoid coming to the Morningside campus yesterday should do so, adding that essential personnel should report to work.
In the X post, protesters said they planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the CUAD’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
Universities across the US are grappling with how to clear out encampments as commencement ceremonies approach, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.
Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah and Virginia, while Columbia said hours before the takeover of Hamilton Hall that it had started suspending students.
Demonstrators are sparring over the Israel-Hamas war and its mounting death toll, and the number of arrests at campuses nationwide is approaching 1,000 as the final days of class wrap up.
The outcry is forcing colleges to reckon with their financial ties to Israel, as well as their support for free speech. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
At the University of Texas at Austin, an attorney said at least 40 demonstrators were arrested on Monday. The confrontation was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state’s capital, where more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.
Later Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear at the University of Utah sought to break up an encampment outside the university president’s office that went up in the afternoon. Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Seventeen people were arrested.
The university says it is against code to camp overnight on school property and that the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.
Meanwhile, in a rare case, Northwestern University said it reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago.
The agreement allows peaceful demonstrations through the June 1 end of spring classes and in exchange, requires removal of all tents except one for aid, and restricts the demonstration area to allow only students, faculty and staff unless the university approves otherwise.
At the University of Southern California, organizers of a large encampment sat down with university president Carol Folt for about 90 minutes on Monday.
Folt declined to discuss details, but said she heard the concerns of protesters and talks were to continue yesterday.
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