About 100 protesters were arrested Tuesday night as New York Police Department (NYPD) officers stormed Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, which had been taken over by pro-Palestine protesters earlier that day.
Officers went on campus shortly after 9 p.m. and gained access to Hamilton Hall through a second-story window with the help of a truck with a ramp, per NBC News.
As officers in riot gear entered a window, protesters yelled “Shame on you,” Mediaite reported.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry posted footage on X, formerly Twitter, showing officers dismantling a barricade and breaking down a door.
#HAPPENINGNOW: An incredible scene and proud moment as we have assisted @CityCollegeNY in restoring order on campus, culminating in raising Old Glory once again on their campus flagpole.
— Kaz Daughtry (@kazdaughtry) May 1, 2024@NYPDPC @NYPD1stDep @NYPDChiefOfDept @NYPDChiefPatrol @NYPDnews pic.twitter.com/XZWFmvXcUs
Once inside, officials discovered overturned and stacked furniture and broken windows, per NBC News.
School officials told students at Columbia and Barnard College to shelter in place. “Non-compliance may result in discipline,” the university said. “Avoid area until further notice.”
University spokesman Ben Chang said “protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation — vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances,” per NBC News.
Before the operation took place, Mayor Eric Adams said the protest “has basically been co-opted by professional outside agitators” who wanted to promote chaos in the situation.
The area was clear by 11 p.m. with nearly 100 arrested.
NYPD will continue to be on campus through May 17. Graduation is May 15.
A tent encampment was built on campus earlier this month to protest the Israel-Hamas War, per NBC News.
Debbie Becher, a professor of sociology at Barnard College, blamed Columbia officials for how things unfolded after months of suppressing students.
“Faculty are surprised. We’re surprised, and, in some ways, we’re not surprised, because we’ve seen this coming,” Becher said.
“For six months now, ever since this conflict began, [the administration has] continuously suppressed students’ speech, and faculty have continued to say we need to support them, to have difficult conversations — that’s what faculty do, that’s what higher education is about,” she said.
Becher said Columbia has been suppressing and disciplining students for just expressing themselves.
“It’s unconscionable. They’re sending hundreds of police after our students,” she said.
Barnard is an official college of Columbia.
