Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday night that the State Department was “reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library,” earlier in the day adding that, “Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.”
Rubio didn’t mince words after some 100 student agitators, their faces wrapped in keffiyehs, stormed the school’s Butler Library while students were studying for finals.
Public Safety officers were able to clear and arrest many of the protesters, but Acting University President Claire Shipman called in the NYPD to finish the job.
At least 75 people were arrested, beginning at 7:25 pm. The protest had begun around 3 pm. Student agitators were led out of the library about 20 at a time, the Columbia Spectator reports.
Militant student activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest shared video of protesters linking arms and shouting “we have nothing to lose but our chains” as officers arrested students and led them out. It is unclear what chains they were referring to.
“At the direct request of Columbia University, the NYPD is responding to an ongoing situation on campus where individuals have occupied a library and are trespassing,” the NYPD said in a statement.