US campus protests: police arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia university – live
New York police officers use a ramp on an armored vehicle to enter Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after pro-Palestinian protestors barricaded themselves in the building earlier on Tuesday. Follow live updates.
LIVE – Updated at 07:07
Police in New York clear out Columbia protest encampment on Tuesday night; demonstrators reportedly in standoff with police at nearby City College of New York (CUNY).
07:07
We’re pausing our live coverage here. If you’d like to read more, the Guardian’s full report on the arrests made at Columbia University can be found here.
Summary
07:00
It’s now 2am in New York – here’s how things stand after police raided the campuses of two universities and arrested a number of protesters.
Hundreds of New York City police officers entered the grounds of Columbia shortly after 9pm to detain and disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who took over Hamilton Hall, a campus building.
A long line of police officers were seen climbing into the occupied building through a second-storey window. Police boarded at least 50 detainees on to buses, each of them with their hands bound behind their backs.
Less than three hours after police entered Columbia, the campus had been cleared of protesters. A police spokesperson said “dozens” of arrests had been made.
A statement released from Columbia said officers arrived on campus after the university requested help. “After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school’s statement said, adding that school public safety personnel were forced out of the building and one facilities worker was “threatened”. The university has requested that police retain a presence on campus until mid-May.
The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters’ defied a 2pm Monday deadline to abandon their camp at Columbia or face suspension. The university promptly began suspending participating students. University officials on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of the students who seized Hamilton Hall.
At an evening news briefing held a few hours before police entered Columbia, New York mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover was instigated by “outside agitators” who lack any affiliation with Columbia and are known to law enforcement for provoking lawlessness. Some Columbia protesters have denied this claim.
A university spokesperson also reiterated the view that the group who “broke into and occupied the building” is being led by individuals who are “not affiliated with the University.”
Dozens of arrests were also reported at City College of New York where an encampment had been going since Thursday. It’s understood that some students left the Columbia campus when arrets began there and moved north to join the sit-in.
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman has said he is “outraged” by the level of police presence at Columbia and other New York universities. Bowman has called on the Columbia administration to stop the “dangerous escalation before it leads to further harm” and allow faculty back on to campus.
Elsewhere, police cracked down on a pro-Palestine demonstration at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early on Tuesday morning, clearing two buildings that protesters had occupied since last week, arresting dozens of people and detaining at least one journalist.
More than 1,000 demonstrators, protesting against the conflict in Gaza have been arrested over the past two weeks on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after violent clashes with police in riot gear.
Brown University in Rhode Island reaches agreement with protesters
06:51
Brown University reached an agreement with students protesting the war in Gaza that would see them remove their encampment from school grounds in exchange for the institution considering divesting from Israel.
In a statement, Brown president Christina Paxson said students had agreed to end their protests, clear their camp and “refrain from further actions that would violate Brown’s conduct code through the end of the academic year.”
In turn, “five students will be invited to meet with five members of the Corporation of Brown University in May to present their arguments to divest Brown’s endowment from ‘companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza’.”
The board will vote on the proposal in October.
“We are ending [the encampment] knowing that we made a huge victory for divestment at Brown, for this international movement and a victory for the people of Palestine,” said Brown student Leo Corzo-Clark.
The move represents a first major concession from an American university amid the relentless student protests that have paralysed campuses.
06:41
In a letter to New York police requesting assistance on campus, the City College of New York said that protesters had ignored requests and their conduct had interfered with the safety of the campus.
Sharing the request on X, New York police deputy commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the actions of protesters raised serious safety concerns for the university communities.
Let me be abundantly clear. New Yorkers will not stand for lawlessness. Our officers will continue to protect the public with the utmost professionalism.
06:20Edward Helmore
A striking feature of New York’s campus protests is how many student-protestors say they are unwilling to talk to the press because they had not been “media-trained.”
Pressed on their reluctance, some protesters at CUNY said the media had been under-reporting and distorting what has been going on, both in regards to the Israel-Hamas war and the international protests against Israel that followed.
“All we’re saying is we’re not happy university tuition fees are being used to fund wars, and we want to see what we can do about it, but without violence,” one protester said.
Others at CUNY were unimpressed by the attitude toward law enforcement.
“They’re also human beings”, said a demonstrator. “They’re following orders. Who do they call when there’s a shooting?”
06:13Edward Helmore
As police shut down anti-Israel protests at Columbia, making dozens of arrests, students were reportedly moving north to the CUNY campus where a protest sit in was still in effect.
The comprehensive police operation at Columbia has involved hundreds of officers who have held a perimeter of closed streets surrounding the university.
NYPD deputy commissioner posts video of police tearing down Palestinian flag
06:12
New York police deputy commissioner Kaz Daughtry has posted a video to X of officers tearing down a Palestinian flag at City College of New York (CUNY) and raising an American flag in its place.
Earlier, Daughtry confirmed that police were on the CUNY campus after the university asked them to assist in dispersing protesters.
In the post in which he shared the video, Daughtry described the “proud moment” that police restored order and raised “Old Glory” on the campus flagpole.
Police begin arrests at City College of New York
06:11
The New York Times is reporting that police have arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at City College of New York (CUNY). An NYPD official confirmed that CUNY had requested that police enter the campus to disperse protesters.
Tensions at the university have been rising throughout the evening – and it was understood that some students left the Columbia campus when arrets began there and moved north to join the sit-in at CUNY.
An encampment at the public college, part of the City University of New York system, has been going since Thursday and students had attempted to occupy an academic building earlier on Tuesday.
Images coming in show a large police presence outside the CUNY campus.
05:52
Earlier we reported that a number of students had left Columbia as the arrests began and moved north to the City College Of New York (CUNY) campus where a protest sit in was still in effect.
A NYPD official told the Guardian that the situation at CUNY was “a work in progress.
Images from the campus show a significant police presence, facing off against protesters.
05:47
Soon after police moved into Columbia, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that if any student was hurt in the operation, responsibility would fall on the mayor and university presidents.
She urged New York mayor Eric Adams to “reverse course”.
Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the making.
Columbia University cleared of protesters and dozens arrested, police confirm
05:44Reged Ahmad
Less than three hours after police entered Columbia, the campus had been cleared of protesters. A police spokesperson said “dozens” of arrests had been made.
Local media is reporting police as saying both Hamilton Hall and the protest encampment is now entirely cleared of students.
“The only thing that is left is the tents and their property,” the police said.
NYPD spokesman Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries following the arrests.
05:37
A reminder that this is the second time in a matter of days that police have been brought in to breakup protests at Columbia University.
On 18 April, Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik confirmed that she had authorised police to begin clearing an encampment on the campus.
More than 100 students were arrested and their tents were torn down. Some students were suspended as well.
As a result, hundreds of faculty members held a mass walkout on 22 April to protest against the school’s decision to have police arrest students. The protest encampment returned at the same time.
Protesters at City College of New York in standoff with police
05:29
The Associated Press is reporting that just blocks away from Columbia, at the City College of New York (CUNY), demonstrators are in a standoff with police outside the public college’s main gate.
Video posted on social media by news reporters on the scene shows officers hauling some people to the ground and shoving others as they cleared people from the street and sidewalks.
An encampment at the public college, part of the City University of New York system, has been going since Thursday.
05:05Reged Ahmad
We’re getting some reaction from other students at Columbia university.
Fabien Lugo is a first-year accounting student who says he wasn’t involved in the protests. But he’s told Associated Press (AP) that he opposes the university’s decision to call in police.
“They’ve shut down everything. This is too intense,” he said. “It feels like more of an escalation than a de-escalation.”
Ilana Lewkovitch, a self-described “leftist Zionist” student at Columbia, says it’s been hard to concentrate on school for weeks.
She says her exams have been punctuated with chants of “say it loud, say it clear, we want Zionists out of here” in the background, she told AP.
Hamilton Hall now entirely cleared of protesters, media report
04:51
Local media are reporting that police have confirmed that all protesters have now been moved out of Hamilton Hall, the academic building that demonstrators occupied over 24 hours ago.
NBC news is reporting that as many as 100 people have been detained.
Live TV footage shows that a huge police presence remains around the campus. Earlier we reported that Columbia has requested that some police remain at the university until at least mid-May.
04:40
The takeover of Hamilton Hall – named after one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton – followed the failure of talks with university authorities aimed at winning the protesters’ agreement to dismantle an encampment of about 120 tents.
What were the students demanding?
Nothing less than Columbia’s divestment from companies they say profit from Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, has rejected divestment calls. But the university offered an accelerated timeline to review student divestment proposals by the institution’s Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing, the body that considers such questions. In a febrile atmosphere, protesters dismissed it as insufficient.
What other factors are in play?
Some Jewish students have said they have felt threatened and allege they have been subjected to antisemitic slurs. Similar complaints have been levelled at other protest-hit campuses.
Protesters – some of whom are Jewish – counter that instances of antisemitism are being exaggerated and conflated with condemnation of Israel, and leveraged in an effort to snuff out legitimate criticism of the state.
How much does this resonate beyond the university campus?
The spectre of enduring protests, creating the impression of chaos and disorder on America’s university campuses, could undermine Joe Biden’s re-election chances.
Fox News has already sensed the potential for a campaign issue, running round-the-clock footage of the scenes from Columbia in a switch of focus from the US-Mexico border, previously seen as the Republicans’ biggest potential vote-winner.
Worse still for Biden, the Democratic party’s student organisation, College Democrats of America, has endorsed the protests, saying in a statement: “As representatives of youth across the country, we reserve the right to criticise our own party when it fails to represent youth voices.”
By contrast, the protests were denounced on Tuesday’s by Biden’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, who called them “absolutely the wrong approach”.
04:33
More images of police loading detained students into buses outside of Columbia have come in. It’s being reported that at least 50 people were arrested after police entered the university to clear out Hamilton Hall – an academic building that was being occupied by pro-Palestine protesters.
A huge number of police have now left the area around the campus, but a significant presence remains.
04:25
New York police deputy commissioner, Kaz Daughtry, has posted an update saying Columbia requested assistance to “take back their campus”.
He said that police were “dispersing the unlawful encampment and persons barricaded inside of university buildings and restoring order.”
04:17
Former president Donald Trump called into Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News on Tuesday evening to comment on the chaos at Columbia, as live footage of police clearing Hamilton Hall aired. Trump praised the officers.
“But it should never have gotten to this,” he told Hannity. “And they should have done it a lot sooner than before they took over the building because it would have been a lot easier if they were in tents rather than a building.”
Columbia University requests police stay on campus until mid-May
04:06
Columbia has published a letter that the university president, Minouche Shafik, wrote to the New York police department on Tuesday, requesting that they retain a presence on campus until mid-May.
With the utmost regret, we request the NYPD’s help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments.
In light of the activities that occurred after the events of April 17-18, 2024, we further request that you retain a presence on campus through at least May 17, 2024 to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished.
The letter goes on to say that the university trusts that police will “take care and caution when removing any individual from our campus”.
04:00
The Guardian has published video of the moment that police entered the occupied building at Columbia, Hamilton Hall.
Police vehicles begin to clear area outside Columbia campus
03:55
Live TV images from Columbia show that a number of police vehicles have now left the campus, including at least two buses filled with detained protesters.
Local media is reporting that less than two hours after the police entered Columbia, officers are now dispersing the last of the protesters.
Flashbang grenades used by police on campus
03:51
A police spokesperson has been speaking to CNN and told the network that officers have used flashbang grenades as they cleared the campus.
A flashbang is a weapon used to disorientate – it produces a blinding flash of light and an extremely loud “bang”.
The New York Times has reported that Carlos Nieves, a police department spokesperson, said “no tear gas was used inside the campus,” adding that “the N.Y.P.D. does not use tear gas.”
Police reportedly fill a second bus with detained protesters
03:46
A second bus has been filled with detained protesters, seated with their hands tied behind their backs, according to local media.
It’s being reported that demonstrators offered no resistance as police cleared them out of the occupied Hamilton Hall.
Below are some images that have come in of protesters being led on to the waiting police buses.
Police presence at other New York universities
03:35Nina Lakhani
On Tuesday evening, New York police began flooding the streets and erecting metal barriers in front of Columbia’s main campus, but some students – and their supporters – were allowed to continue north a mile and a half to The City University of New York (Cuny), as planned.
As the protesters reached Cuny, dozens of police officers rushed to stand in front of the campus gates which were already secured with barricades. The protesters demanded they be allowed in, and nudged towards the barricades. They chanted slogans throughout including: ‘Cuny, Cuny your hands are red, 40,000 Palestinians are dead.’
Police pushed some of the protesters to the ground, and several people were arrested. One young woman wearing a hijab was in tears after a police officer charged into her.
By 8pm there seemed to be hundreds of police on the scene, some were carrying truncheons and zip ties. The students were trying to find a way on to campus but were being directed into streets which were blocked off by barricades or police. We could hear lots of sirens coming from all directions.
At around 8pm we could hear sirens heading towards Columbia and several buses with the word ‘corrections’ painted on them sped past. Similar buses have been used by the NYPD to transport detained protesters in recent days. At about 8.30pm reports started emerging from Columbia faculty members that a shelter in place order had been issued, as police officers in riot gear prepared to storm the campus.
New York congressman denounces police intervention
03:26
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman has said he is “outraged” by the level of police presence at Columbia and other New York universities.
The militarization of college campuses, extensive police presence, and arrest of hundreds of students are in direct opposition to the role of education as a cornerstone of our democracy.”
Bowman has called on the Columbia administration to stop the “dangerous escalation before it leads to further harm” and allow faculty back on to campus.
03:18
A long line of police officers were seen climbing into the occupied building through a second-story window, using a vehicle with a ladder to gain access to the upper floor.
Reuters is reporting that dozens of other officers swarmed over the nearby protest encampment, as onlooking students standing just outside the campus jeered them with shouts of “Shame, shame!”
Before long, officers were seen leading handcuffed protesters to police vehicles outside campus gates.
Police boarded about 50 detainees on to a bus, each of them with their hands bound behind their backs with zip ties, the entire scene illuminated with flashing red and blue lights of police vehicles.
The New York Times is reporting that there were five buses in total, however it’s unclear how many were filled with detained protesters.
“Free, free, free Palestine,” chanted protesters outside the building. Others yelled “let the students go”.
03:06
The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters’ defied a 2pm Monday deadline to abandon their camp at Columbia or face suspension. The university promptly began suspending participating students.
Posts on an Instagram page for protest organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment on campus and join them at Hamilton Hall. Those signs of supports surfaced as the UN human rights chief said he was “troubled” by how law enforcement has dealt with the recent wave of campus demonstrations.
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.
That ultimatum came after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, announced that efforts to reach a compromise with protest organisers had failed. She said that the institution would not bow to demands to divest from Israel.
Police begin to detain protesters at Columbia
03:02
Live TV images show that police have begun to detain protesters at Columbia.
The New York Times is reporting that some students have been escorted off campus with their hands zip tied behind their backs. Some protesters are being loaded on to law enforcement buses parked outside the university.
Students have not resisted arrest, according to the New York Times.
New York police entered Columbia University in an apparent effort to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who seized and occupied a classroom building and have been encamped on the campus for two weeks.
Columbia University officials earlier on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of the students who seized Hamilton Hall.
Columbia confirms that the university reached out to New York police
02:59
Columbia has just released a new statement, confirming that police entered the campus in consultation with the university.
A little after 9 p.m. this evening, the NYPD arrived on campus at the University’s request. This decision was made to restore safety and order to our community.
After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.
We made the decision, early in the morning, that this was a law enforcement matter, and that the NYPD were best positioned to determine and execute an appropriate response.”
The university spokesperson reiterated the view that the group who “broke into and occupied the building” is being led by individuals who are “not affiliated with the University.”
The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”
AP reports that Columbia authorised police to enter the campus
02:46
The Associated Press is reporting that shortly before officers entered the campus, the New York police department received a notice from Columbia authorising officers to take action. There source is a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Guardian is unable to verify these reports.
02:42
At an evening news conference held a few hours before police entered Columbia, mayor Eric Adams and city police officials said the Hamilton Hall takeover was instigated by “outside agitators” who lack any affiliation with Columbia and are known to law enforcement for provoking lawlessness.
Police said they based their conclusions in part on escalating tactics in the occupation, including vandalism, use of barricades to block entrances and destruction of security cameras.
Adams suggested some of the student protesters were not fully aware of “external actors” in their midst.
We cannot and will not allow what should be a peaceful gathering to turn into a violent spectacle that serves no purpose. We cannot wait until this situation becomes even more serious. This must end now.”
One of the student leaders of the protest, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar attending Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs on a student visa, disputed assertions that outsiders had initiated the occupation.
“They’re students,” he told Reuters.
02:40
Live television images show a huge police presence on the Columbia campus.
Reuters reported that officers in a riot unit yelled “we’re clearing it out” as they marched up to the barricaded entrance to the building occupied building.
“Shame! shame!” jeered many onlooking undergrads still outside on campus.
Police were seen trying to enter the building through a window:
Protesters blocked the entrance to Hamilton Hall with tables, linked arms to form a barricade and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans.
02:33
Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Columbia said that students who took over the academic building now face expulsion.
Dozens of protesters took over Hamilton Hall, an academic building on the New York campus, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window.
Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said:
We made it very clear [on Monday] that the work of the university cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules … Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences. Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation – vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances – we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday.
Hamilton Hall was one of several buildings occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protest on the campus.
Now student protesters there have overtaken it once again, displaying a large banner that reads “Hind’s Hall”, renaming it in honor of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza City who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this year.
02:30
Images from around Columbia show a large police presence close to the entrance to the university. After entering the university, it’s understood that a police contingent moved towards Hamilton Hall, the building being occupied by protesters.
Columbia University issues shelter-in-place-order
02:28
Columbia University issued a shelter-in-place order Tuesday evening while protesters continued to occupy a building to demonstrate against the conflict in Gaza.
The Associated Press news agency is reporting that scores of police officers in riot gear have gathered near the New York campus.
More than 1,000 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks on campuses in states including Texas, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Connecticut, Louisiana, California and New Jersey, some after violent clashes with police in riot gear.
New York police enter Columbia university
02:27
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the protests across US campuses.
New York City police have entered Columbia University in an apparent effort to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who seized and occupied a classroom building and have been encamped on the campus for two weeks.
TV images on Tuesday night showed police entering the elite university located in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the US.
Columbia University officials earlier on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of the students who seized Hamilton Hall.
We’ll bring you live updates throughout the evening.