Hundreds of New York police officers have begun to storm into the Columbia University grounds, where campus protesters have occupied Hamilton Hall since Monday night, tying doors shut with ropes and blocking entrances with furniture.
Live footage of the event, broadcast by CNN, showed the helmeted officers met by angry protesters, shouting and chanting, outside Hamilton Hall.
Activists have renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli tanks in Gaza as paramedics tried to rescue her.
These Columbia students face expulsion, spokesperson Ben Chang said on Tuesday. New York mayor Eric Adams also addressed protesters directly, telling them “this must end now,” CNN reported.
Pro-Palestinian student protests have swept the country, and dozens of schools now have encampments.
University administrations have called riot police onto campus in multiple states, resulting in hundreds of arrests and violent encounters between students and law enforcement.
At California State Polytechnic Institute, Humboldt, police arrested 35 people on Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside school buildings for over a week, while some 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the same day.
Key Points
Columbia students occupy historic Hamilton Hall overnight
Columbia University shuts down campus