The University of Columbia asked for help from the police while its public security agents confront dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who met in an area of the main library on the campus on Wednesday afternoon.
University officials asked for help from the New York police department on Wednesday evening by guaranteeing the Butler library “due to the number of people participating in the disruption inside and outside the building, a large group of people who try to make their way in the Butler library creating a security risk, and what we think is the significant presence of people who are not affiliated at the university” Acting, Claire Shipman in a declaration.
The university had previously declared that there was a “disturbance” in the reading room 301 of the Butler library – about two days before the final exams which should start at university. The demonstrators entered the room around 3:15 p.m., reported the affiliate of CNN Wabc.
The video of the interior of the library shows that the demonstrators are blocked and pushed from the doors of the library while some shout: “Let them go out!” “Stop!” You hurt me! ” A demonstrator is heard shouting.
New York mayor Eric Adams said that “NYPD enters the campus to remove people who intrude”.
Two university security officers were injured while a crowd was trying to enter the library, Shipman said. No details were available on the nature of their injuries.
The demonstrators – who ask the university to decide on companies that have links with Israel – called the library to be renamed “Popular University of Basel al -Araj”, according to a substitution position by Columbia University Apartheid Disst. Al-Araj, a Palestinian activist, died in 2017.
We do not know if all the demonstrators of the library on Wednesday are affiliated with the group. CNN contacted Columbia for more information.
“Although this is isolated in a library room, it is completely unacceptable that some people choose to disrupt academic activities while our students study and prepare for final exams,” said the university. “These disturbances of our campus and our academic activities will not be tolerated.”
The police asked demonstrators to identify and leave the building on several occasions, although none agreed to do so, Shipman said. The demonstrators were informed that they would be in violation of the university rules and would face a possible arrest for intrusion if they did not disperse, added Shipman. People who are not involved in the demonstration were able to leave the library, the university said.
The university said that those found in violation of the university’s rules and policies “will face disciplinary consequences” during the current demonstration.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that she had been informed of the situation and was “grateful to public security officials for ensuring security students”.
The demonstration occurred a year after pro-Palestinian demonstrators from the University of Columbia launched a wave of demonstrations on university campuses across the country. The demonstrators in 2024 barricaded inside Hamilton Hall, calling for it to be renamed “Hind’s Hall”, after a 5 -year -old girl who was killed by an Israeli tanks in her family’s car in Gaza.
This is a story in development and will be updated.
