Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy building at Columbia University - CNN

Protesters barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, expanding their protest after a deadline issued in the afternoon by university officials to disband or face suspension, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 30, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

(Reuters) – Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were occupying a building on the New York City campus on Tuesday as officials limited access to students who live there and essential employees.

The protesters who were occupying Hamilton Hall displayed banners from a window reading “Intifada,” the Arabic word for an uprising, CNN reported, citing a video.

The school said in an early morning notice that effective immediately access to the Morningside campus has been limited to students residing in residential buildings on campus and employees providing essential services.

“This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise,” it said. “The safety of every single member of this community is paramount. We thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding.”

The university began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists on Monday who refused to dismantle a protest camp on the New York City campus after the Ivy League school declared a stalemate in talks seeking to end the demonstration.

University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to persuade demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to express opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building after barricading themselves inside the building at Columbia University, after an earlier order from university officials to disband the protest encampment supporting Palestinians, or face suspension, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York City, U.S., April 30, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

The crackdown at Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests roiling university campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks, came as police at the University of Texas at Austin arrested dozens of students whom they doused with pepper spray at a pro-Palestinian rally.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; editing by Philippa Fletcher)