A total of 282 people were arrested at Columbia University and City University of New York on Tuesday night, New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed at a press conference on Wednesday—after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a Columbia building and built barricades the day before.
The mayor said the occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University was led by “outside ... [+]
About 173 people were arrested at the campus of CUNY in Harlem, while 109 were arrested on Columbia’s campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.
Adams said the NYPD was still working to determine how many of the arrested protesters were Columbia students and how many were “outside agitators.”
Adams said there were students inside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, but the move to occupy the building “was led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university.”
Columbia has not returned a request for comment on Wednesday.
Columbia said Tuesday the university was “left with no choice” and called in the NYPD after protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, a campus building that was previously occupied during the 1968 student protests. Ben Chang, a spokesperson for Columbia, previously told Forbes any students who did not vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. on Monday were being suspended by the administration, while students occupying Hamilton Hall would “face expulsion.”