The conflict began after Hamas’ attacked Israel on October 7 and militants killed about 1,200 people. Israel declared war on Gaza and has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. Students at colleges across the country are demanding their universities cut financial ties with Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the war in Gaza. Columbia president Nemat Minouche Shafik said that talks between the school and protesters have broken down and that the university would not divest from Israel.
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Hundreds of New York police officers stormed into the Columbia University grounds on Tuesday night, where campus protesters had 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.
Officers later used a SWAT ramp, attached to the roof of a large truck to enter the upper floors of Hamilton Hall. Activists have renamed the building âHindâs Hallâ 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. Shortly after the NYPD began entering the campus grounds, Columbia released a lengthy statement saying that it âhad no choiceâ but to involve law enforcement.
âWe regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,â the statement read.
Dozens of protesters were arrested, the NYPD said, adding that all areas had been cleared by around 11pm local time.
Columbia president Nemat Shafik has requested that the NYPD maintain a presence on the campus until May 17 â two days after the universityâs graduation ceremony.
Key Points
- NYPD: âItâs done’
- Full statement from Columbia: âWe were left with no choice’
- Columbia requesting NYPD presence on campus until May 17
- Jewish student protesters say Columbiaâs pro-Palestine demonstrations arenât antisemitic
- Students occupying Hamilton Hall face expulsion, Columbia University spokesperson says
- Graduating seniors blame USC for ruining end of college with âmilitaryâ crackdown on pro-Palestine campus protests
Excerpt from Fox News:
The New York City Police Department released a video showing a professional “protest consultant” who was seen on other social media videos instructing a mob of anti-Israel agitators as they took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University overnight Monday.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams spoke about outside agitators during a press conference Tuesday evening.
“What should have been a peaceful protest, it has basically been co-opted by professional outside agitators. We were extremely cautious about releasing our intel information because our goal was to ensure the safety of the students, the faculty, and without destruction to property,” Adams said. “We have sounded the alarm several times before about external actors who attempted to hijack this private protest.”
Adams and members of his administration shared information about the outside actors who were creating “serious public safety issues” at the protests.
“These external actors are obviously not students, and their presence on campus is a violation of Columbiaâs clearly stated policy,” Adams said. “This groupâŚis an outside agitator with a history of escalating a situation and trying to create chaos. It is our belief they are now actively co-opting what should be a peaceful gathering. This is to serve their own agenda. They are not here to promote peace or unity or allow a peaceful display of one’s voice. They are here to create discord and divisiveness.”
The mayor urged anyone involved to walk away “now.”
During the press conference, police said some of the outside agitators have been known to the NYPD for years, adding that they have seen an escalation in tactics police believe are the result of guidance from outside agitators.
For example, police are seeing barricades being made out of furniture, cameras being destroyed, de-arresting tactics, property destruction, and signs being used to fortify and create shields.
Police said even though the tactics really became exposed last night at Columbia University, they expect it will continue across universities in New York City and across the country.
In a video shown during the press event, 63-year-old Lisa Fithian is seen watching a group of protesters chant anti-Israel slogans.
“Weâre trying to document them being a- -holes,” Lisa Fithian said to the camera person. “Youâre right. They are being a – -holes.”
Fithian is a professional “protest consultant” who has been arrested over 80 times, Laura Ingraham of “The Ingraham Angle” said on her show Tuesday night.Â
Fithian has reportedly participated in protests on climate change, Occupy Wall Street, and now, the Free Palestine movement.
After midnight Tuesday, Fithian was seen on video instructing a mob of anti-Israel agitators as they took over an academic building at Columbia University.
In one video clip, protesters were seen carrying a table, while in the background, Fithian could be heard saying, “I canât help with that. You guys can help with that.”
In another clip, the mob was seen attaching a piece of furniture to the door of a building, while Fithian tells people with cameras to move back.
During “The Ingraham Angle” on Tuesday evening, Ingraham spoke with Ira Stoll, the founder and editor of theeditors.com, about Fithian and what she gets out of helping to train the new generation of activists.
“Some of the people involved are being paid money,” Stoll said, explaining he authored an article for The Wall Street Journal recently about how these groups are advertising for fellows to be paid $3,000 to work eight hours a week for three months, on campuses across the U.S. “Some of the people who have been quite prominently in these protests have been paid fellows with hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Soros Open Society Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
“So, thereâs big money behind these protests,” Stoll added.
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Fox News:Â Â Â https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nypd-release-video-showing-professional-protest-consultant-at-columbia-university/ar-AA1nXic0
Offline is a documentary on the inevitability of the Earth being slammed by a mega solar flare – not the common type that interrupts communications and creates a light show in the Northern skies – but the big brothers thousands of times more powerful. These monsters deliver enough energy to blow apart the master transformers that supply the planetâs energy grids. When that happens, the lights go out for longer than anyone wants to think about. These X-Class solar storms hit the Earth every 150 years, on average. The last one arrived 156 years ago. We are overdue (
Another criminal event put on by the cabal to cause fear, chaos & harm. They use the same bad actors in antifa, BLM & “protestors” like these; only the costumes change. It’s so good to see law enforcement do the right thing & arrest these criminals. I pray those involved receive the maximum sentences by the courts. And wanting Palestine or any other country to be free is not antisemitic. All people must be free, especially free from the satanic cabal.