Police raid Columbia University campus to break up pro-Palestinian protest
Police in riot gear have raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters after demonstrators occupied one of its buildings.
It comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that the demonstration at the Ivy League school “must end now” and claimed it had been infiltrated by “professional outside agitators”.
University bosses said they called in the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters “chose to escalate the situation through their actions”.
“After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the university said in a statement.
Police enter Hamilton Hall. Pic: Reuters
Police gather around Columbia University before moving in to break-up the protest. Pic: Reuters
Police stand guard near an encampment of protesters on the grounds of Columbia University. Pic: Reuters
Arrested protesters from Columbia University are loaded onto a bus. Pic: Reuters
“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.”
The protest began when students barricaded the entrance of Hamilton Hall at the Manhattan campus on Tuesday and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window.
Video footage showed protesters locking arms in front of the hall and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building.
A group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said they had renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.
Protesters unfurled a flag with the words ‘Hind’s Hall’. Pic: Reuters
Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building.
Pic: Reuters
Demonstrators said they planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the CUAD’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.
However, officers moved in on the campus on Tuesday night after university bosses wrote to New York City officials and the New York Police Department formally asking for assistance.
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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening. Officers were also seen entering the window of a university building via a police-branded cherry-picker-style vehicle.
Earlier, Mayor Adams urged demonstrators to leave the site. “Walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means,” he said.
Columbia University also threatened academic expulsions for students involved in the demonstration.
Protesters block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. Pic: AP
Demonstrators block the entrance of Hamilton Hall. Pic: AP
Protests at Columbia earlier this month kicked off demonstrations which have spread to university campuses from California to Massachusetts.
Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.
Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.
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Meanwhile, the president of the University of South California issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on the campus.
“I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone,” Carol Folt said.
“Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community. We’re going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed.”
Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden believed students occupying buildings was “absolutely the wrong approach” and “not an example of peaceful protest”.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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