NYPD officers arrest Columbia protesters after school asks for help ending occupation

The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between duelling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.

NYPD officers acted after the school’s president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus and sought help from the department. The occupation of the building came as demonstrators spread out from an encampment elsewhere on the Ivy League school’s grounds.

School officials asked law enforcement to stay on the Columbia campus through May 17, the end of the university’s commencement events.

Columbia’s protests began earlier this month and kicked off demonstrations that now span from California to Massachusetts. As May commencement ceremonies near, administrators face added pressure to clear protesters.

NYPD storm Hamilton Hall to remove pro-Palestinian protesters

CBC News was on the scene as New York police entered Hamilton Hall, the administration building that protesters began occupying on Tuesday morning, at Columbia University.

The scene unfolded shortly after 9 p.m. ET as police, wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and riot shields, massed at the Ivy League university’s entrance. Officers breached Hamilton Hall, an administration building on campus that demonstrators had occupied more than 12 hours earlier, to clear out the structure.

The move came hours after NYPD brass said officers wouldn’t enter the campus without the administration’s request or an imminent emergency. Police spokesperson Carlos Nieves said he had no immediate reports of any injuries

Columbia ‘left with no choice’

“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the school’s statement said, adding that school public safety personnel were forced out of the building and one facilities worker was “threatened.”

“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.”

In a letter to senior police officials, Columbia president Minouche Shafik asked that police remove protesters from the occupied building and a nearby tent encampment “with the utmost regret.”

Protesters were seeking three demands from Columbia: divestment from companies supporting Israel’s government, greater transparency in university finances, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined over the protests.

Shafik said earlier this week that Columbia would not divest from finances in Israel. Instead, she offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and make Columbia’s direct investment holdings more transparent.

In her letter released on Tuesday, Shafik said the Hamilton Hall occupiers had vandalized University property, and that encampment protesters were suspended for trespassing. The eight-story, neo-classical building has been the site of various student occupations dating back to the 1960s.

Clashes between groups at UCLA

The nationwide campus protests began at Columbia in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

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 confrontations with police in riot gear.

Violence broke out at UCLA overnight between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters, and police in riot gear arrived but did not immediately intervene.

Before riot police arrived, a group piled on one person who lay on the ground, kicking and beating them until others pulled them out of the scrum.

“Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” Mary Osako, a senior UCLA official, told the campus newspaper the Daily Bruin.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spoke to the university’s chancellor and said police would respond to the school’s request, according to a post on social media platform X from her spokesperson Zach Seidl.

The clashes took place just outside a tent encampment, where pro-Palestinian protesters erected barricades and plywood for protection. A group of counter-protesters tried to pull them down.

White House says occupying schools ‘the wrong approach’

The White House condemned the standoffs at Columbia and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where protesters had occupied two buildings until officers with batons intervened overnight and arrested 25 people. Officials estimated the Northern California campus’s total damage to be upwards of $1 million US.

The issue has taken on political overtones in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November, with Republicans accusing some university administrators of turning a blind eye to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment.

White House spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday called the occupation of campus buildings “the wrong approach.”

Other colleges have sought to negotiate agreements with the demonstrators in the hopes of having peaceful commencement ceremonies.

As ceasefire negotiations appeared to gain steam, it wasn’t clear whether those talks would lead to an easing of campus protests.

Northwestern University notched a rare win when officials said they reached a compromise with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago to allow peaceful demonstrations through the end of spring classes.

Israel and its supporters have branded the American university protests as antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition.

Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests — some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.