Hundreds of New York City police officers have entered the Columbia University campus, taking many people into custody, in the latest escalation in Gaza protests that have swept campuses across the United States.
Live television images showed police entering the university in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, in which more than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed.
After entering the site shortly after 9pm on Tuesday (01:00 GMT on Wednesday), some officers approached Hamilton Hall, the administrative building, which students began occupying early on Tuesday morning after the management said it had begun suspending students who had refused to meet a previous deadline to disperse.
They had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall”, in memory of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab who was killed in Gaza in February.
“We’re clearing it out,” police in a riot unit yelled as they marched up to the barricaded entrance to the building, while dozens more officers moved on to the main protest camp.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a post on X that the police officers were “wearing riot gear” and that “multiple blocks have been barricaded off”.
Police officers were seen in a long line, climbing into the building via a ladder extended from the top of a truck into a second-storey window.
Credit: aljazeera.com
