In most places, it was possible to arrange the events peacefully, but at New York's Columbia University and some other schools, the intervention of the police was necessary. Many compare the current protests to the George Floyd case in 2020.

Police armed with tasers and riot shields stormed a Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, pouring in through a window late Tuesday and arresting dozens of people. The protesters occupied the administration building known as Hamilton Hall, a major escalation as demonstrations against the war between Israel and Hamas spread across the country on college campuses, the Associated Press .

According to a statement released by a Columbia spokeswoman, police entered the campus after requesting the university's assistance. Almost two weeks ago, a tent demonstration started on the school grounds in protest against the Israel-Hamas war. "Once the university learned that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized and blockaded, we were left with no other choice," the school said.

The decision to go to the NYPD was a response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they represented. We have made it clear that university life cannot be disrupted indefinitely and the rules and the law can't be ignored

they added.

The arrests at Columbia — where protesters had already rejected an earlier ultimatum to leave the camp on Monday or face suspension — came as other universities stepped up efforts to end protests. Police swept some campuses,

leading to nationwide clashes and more than 1,000 arrests.

In rarer cases, university officials and protest leaders have agreed to suspend disruptions to campus life and upcoming graduation ceremonies. The police action in Columbia happened on the 56th anniversary of a similar action by students protesting racism and the Vietnam War, which led to the suppression of the Hamilton Hall occupation.

Would the police be too much?

Police had previously said that officers would not enter the area without the request of college management or an immediate emergency. Now the law enforcement forces will be there until May 17, the end of the university's graduation ceremonies. Fabien Lugo, a first-year accounting student who said he was not involved in the protests, said he opposed the university's decision to involve the police.

Everything is closed, it's too much. It seems more like an escalation than a de-escalation

- He told.

Former President Donald Trump called into Sean Hannity's show on the Fox News Channel to comment on the Columbia riots as live footage aired of police cleaning up Hamilton Hall. Trump praised the police. “But it should never have gotten to this point,” he told Hannity. “And they should have done that much sooner than before they occupied the building because it would have been much easier if they were in tents rather than a building. And they also caused enormous damage," said the former president.

In a letter to senior NYPD officials, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said management is "with the greatest regret" asking police to remove protesters from the occupied building and a nearby tent camp. Shafik also relied on the idea, first floated earlier in the day by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, that the group occupying Hamilton was led by "persons not affiliated with the university." None of them provided concrete evidence to support this claim, which was disputed by the organizers and participants of the demonstration.

External agitators

New York City police officials have made similar claims about "outsider agitators" during the massive grassroots protests against racial injustice that erupted across the city after the death of George Floyd in 2020. In some cases, senior police officials have mistakenly labeled peaceful marches organized by well-known neighborhood activists as the work of violent extremists.

Before police arrived at Columbia, the White House condemned the standoff there and at Cal State University in Humboldt, where protesters occupied two buildings until police with rubber batons intervened overnight and arrested 25 people.

Officials estimated total damage to the Northern California campus at more than $1 million. President Joe Biden says students occupying a university building is 'absolutely the wrong approach' and 'not an example of peaceful protest'

said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Other colleges have sought to work out agreements with protesters in hopes of holding peaceful celebrations. With ceasefire talks apparently underway, it was unclear whether those talks would encourage an easing of the protests. Israel and its supporters have labeled the university protests as anti-Semitic, while their critics say Israel is using these accusations to silence the opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making anti-Semitic comments or threatening violence, the organizers of the demonstrations, some of whom are Jewish, say they are peaceful movements aimed at protecting Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

"Zionists get out of here"

On Columbia's campus, protesters first set up tents in front of the school almost two weeks ago. The next day, the school sent police to evacuate the tents, more than 100 people were arrested, but the students returned and started a wave of similar camps at various universities around the country. Negotiations between the protesters and the university have stalled in recent days, and the school has set a deadline for activists to leave the tent camp by Monday afternoon or face suspension.

Instead, protesters defied the ultimatum and occupied Hamilton Hall early Tuesday morning, using furniture and metal barricades. The protesters named the building Hind's Hall, in honor of a young girl who died under Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip, and demanded a withdrawal, financial transparency and amnesty.

According to the Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, university administration has repeatedly ignored faculty members' efforts to help defuse the situation, despite the school's constitution requiring consultation. Ilana Lewkovitch, a self-described "left-wing Zionist" student at Columbia, said it had been difficult to focus on school for weeks amid calls for Zionists to die or leave campus. According to him

his exams were interrupted by chants of "say it loud, say it clearly, we want the Zionists out of here" in the background.

Lewkovitch, who identifies as Jewish and studied at Columbia's Tel Aviv campus, said he wished the current pro-Palestinian protests were more open to people like him who criticize Israel's war policies but believe the state of Israel should exist. .

MTI/ Index

Featured image: Spencer Platt / Getty Images Hungary