Columbia and NYPD Crush Student Library Occupation Supporting Palestine

On Wednesday evening, NYPD officials stormed Columbia University's campus and conducted mass arrests of pro-Palestine protesters, several hours after the activists had occupied a reading room of the university's Butler Library ahead of finals week. Wednesday's raid marks the third time in less than thirteen months that Columbia's leadership has requested the NYPD come on campus to intervene in students' pro-Palestinian protest activity; in March, Barnard administrators also called in the NYPD, which subsequently arrested nine individuals.

The arrests of 78 protesters came shortly after both the acting president of the university, Claire Shipman, and Mayor Eric Adams issued statements variously painting the protest as "violence," "hate," "lawlessness," and "antisemitism." In her statement to staff and faculty, Shipman wrote, "Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today. We are resolute that calls for violence or harm have no place at our University." Nine minutes after Shipman’s email to staff and faculty, Mayor Adams issued his own statement, writing, "To our Jewish New Yorkers, especially the students at Columbia who feel threatened or unsafe attending class because of these events: know that your mayor stands with you and will always work to keep you safe." 

Both Mayor Adams and the NYPD confirmed that Columbia University leadership had directly requested the NYPD respond to the protest. "At the written request of Columbia University, the NYPD is entering the campus to remove individuals who are trespassing," Adams wrote. Two protesters were issued summonses, and 78 protesters were arrested and received desk appearance tickets, according to the NYPD. 

In her email, as well as in a video statement released later on Wednesday night, Shipman alleged that two campus security officials had sustained injuries due to the protest. She made no mention, however, of any of the numerous occasions on which campus security officials had assaulted protesters on Wednesday. 

Hell Gate reporters witnessed repeated instances of campus security assaulting protesters. In one instance, one protester was held down on the ground for around four minutes and fifteen seconds by multiple security officers as he cried for help.