Hundreds of New York police officers have begun to storm into the Columbia University grounds, where campus protesters have occupied Hamilton Hall since Monday night, tying doors shut with ropes and blocking entrances with furniture.
Live footage of the event, broadcast by CNN, showed the helmeted officers met by angry protesters, shouting and chanting, outside Hamilton Hall.
Officers later used a SWAT ramp, attached to the roof of a large truck to enter the upper floors of Hamilton Hall. Activists have renamed the building “Hind’s Hall” in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli tanks in Gaza as paramedics tried to rescue her.
These Columbia students face expulsion, spokesperson Ben Chang said on Tuesday. Shortly after the NYPD began entering the campus grounds, Columbia released a lengthy statement saying that it “had no choice” but to involve law enforcement.
“We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” the statement read.
Pro-Palestinian student protests have swept across the country, and dozens of schools now have encampments.
Campus anti-war protesters dig in from New York to California as universities and police take action