Police from the New York Police Department (NYPD) wore riot gear on Thursday during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University, where demonstrators set up a camp with many tents on campus.
Photos spreading on social media and various news sources displayed many police officers in protective gear surrounding Columbia University on Thursday afternoon. Officers detained many demonstrators on Thursday, The New York Times published. NYPD refused to give any information about the arrests since the situation is ongoing.
Protesters established a camp with tents on Wednesday morning, leading Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to authorize the NYPD to assist in removing the camp “out of caution.”
“I have decided that the camp and related disruptions present a clear and immediate threat to the significant operation of the University,” Shafik stated in a letter to the NYPD on Thursday.
She mentioned that the demonstrators were informed multiple times that they are not allowed to occupy the area — the South Lawn of Columbia University’s Morningside Heights Campus — but have “refused” to leave or follow school administrators' instructions.
“I am sorry that all of these attempts to solve the situation were declined by the students involved. As a result, NYPD officers are now on campus and the process of clearing the camp is in progress,” she stated in an update on Thursday.
All university students involved in the protest were informed they are suspended, Shafik added.
“Students who are participating in the unauthorized camp are suspended. We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out official notifications,” a university spokesperson informed The Hill.
Among those suspended was Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Hirsi is a student at Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia but has some independence.
The protests come one day after House lawmakers with the Education and Workforce Committee grilled Columbia officials about their response to the rise in antisemitism witnessed at schools across the country following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Several U.S. colleges have experienced an increase in demonstrations and protests in the months after the Oct. 7 attacks.
