Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University took over a building on campus early Tuesday morning after the school began suspending students for refusing to disperse from the anti-Israel encampment set up on the campus quad last week.
Dozens of Columbia protesters occupied Hamilton Hall Tuesday and barricaded the entrances to claim the area as their own. Footage emerged on social media of protesters smashing windows and barricading themselves inside the building.
The protesters hung a sign that reads “Hinds Hall” from the building, commemorating the death of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
Columbia public safety confirmed student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall and advised the campus community to avoid the area if possible. Campus access will be restricted to students living in residential buildings and all of the entrances to Columbia will be closed besides the main entrance on 116th street and Amsterdam Avenue.
Anti-Israel student activist group Columbia Apartheid Divest celebrated the rioting at Hamilton Hall as a necessary escalation to the protest movement. The group renamed the building and said an “autonomous group reclaimed” the building.
“As members of the imperial core, the least we can do is pressure the university to divest. Open the gates, end the occupation, and welcome the free movement of all people, from Palestinians to our neighbors in Harlem; from the river to the sea,” the left-wing activists said.
The protesters claim to be demonstrating against Columbia’s financial relationship with companies doing business in Israel and U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing war effort against Hamas, launched after the terrorist group’s mass civilian slaughter on October 7. Khymani James, one of the movement’s lead organizers, was banned from campus last week after unearthed video footage came to light where he said “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
Columbia leadership on Monday night indicated the student demonstrators will begin to receive suspensions after they ignored a deadline to disband the anti-Israel encampment formed earlier this month. Ahead of the 2 p.m. deadline given by the university, activists urged supporters to flood onto campus and prevent the university from being able to clear them out.
The ultimatum followed negotiations between the administration and student protest leaders that extended past an initial deadline given by Columbia president Minouche Shafik.
“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” said Ben Chang, vice president of communications at Columbia. “Once disciplinary action is initiated, adjudication is handled by several different units within the university based on the nature of the offense.”
The university promised students last week it would not call in the NYPD to clear out the encampment for a second time. A spokesperson confirmed that the university had not altered its stance and would not bring in police officers to enforce the Monday afternoon dispersal deadline. Columbia did send the NYPD to break up the student encampment on April 18 roughly 24 hours after it formed. Over the next few days, the encampment reemerged and became increasingly antisemitic and violent, prompting the university to shift to hybrid classes for the remainder of the semester.