US campus protests: police enter Columbia university after pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupy building – live
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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 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.”
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 arrest a student at Columbia University. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
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.
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.
Members of the New York police department strategic response team move towards an entrance to Columbia University. Photograph: Julius Motal/AP
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.
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:
NYPD officers in riot gear break into a building at Columbia University, where pro-Palestinian students are barricaded inside a building and have set up an encampment Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
Protesters blocked the entrance to Hamilton Hall with tables, linked arms to form a barricade and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans.
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.
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.
New York police officers move towards an entrance to Columbia University. Photograph: Julius Motal/AP
NYPD officers in riot gear march on to Columbia University campus. Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
Police stand guard near an encampment. Photograph: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters
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.
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.
