108 arrested after pro-palestine protest in Columbia University

NEW YORK police removed a pro-palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University on Thursday and arrested more than 100 demonstrators, including the daughter of a prominent Minnesota congresswoman.

Several students involved in the protest said they also were suspended from Columbia and Barnard College, including Isra Hirsi, who is the daughter of Democratic US Rep. Ilhan Omar. Omar had questioned Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, at a hearing Wednesday in Congress about the school’s targeting of pro-palestinian protesters.

Police said 108 people, including Hirsi, were charged with trespassing at the private Ivy League institution. Two people were also charged with obstructing government administration.

Columbia University president Nemat Shafik

New York Mayor Eric Adams said the city was asked in writing by university officials to remove the encampment. “Students have a right to free speech, but do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” Adams said.

The students had been protesting on campus since early Wednesday, opposing Israeli military action in Gaza and demanding the school divest from companies they claim “profit from Israeli apartheid.”

“We demand full amnesty for all students disciplined for their involvement in the encampment or the movement for Palestinian liberation,” the protest coalition said in a statement.

Shafik issued a statement saying the school had warned protesters on Wednesday that they would be suspended if the encampment was not removed. School officials made the decision Thursday to call in police and clear out the demonstrators, she said.

“Out of an abundance of concern for the safety of Columbia’s campus, I authorized the New York Police Department to begin clearing the encampment ... “Shafik said in the statement.

Out of an abundance of concern for the safety of Columbia’s campus, I authorised the police to begin clearing the encampment

— NEMAT MINOUCHE SHAFIK

ON POLICE ACTION IN CAMPUS