Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among at least 108 people arrested when police in riot gear intervened to break up the anti-Israel protest that rocked Columbia University in New York.
Tensions had reached a boiling point since protesters pitched tents on the university’s south lawn at 4 a.m. Wednesday, and several fights broke out when they were met by pro-Israel counterprotesters.
Hirsi, 21, looked worried when she was seen handcuffed along with many other pro-Gaza protesters who received citations for trespassing.
The daughter of the staunch Democrat had already been suspended by her university, Barnard College, for joining the protest on the Upper West Side.
New York Mayor Eric Adams hosted a news conference Thursday afternoon to say that university President Nemat Shafik called on police to eliminate a “clear and present danger” to campus security .
Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, appears handcuffed and arrested on the Columbia campus Thursday. She has been participating in an anti-Israel demonstration at the university.
Students began setting up tents on the university’s south lawn around 4 a.m. Wednesday in an unauthorized protest against the war in Gaza.
At least 108 people were arrested and cited for trespassing when riot police moved in and cleared the space Thursday morning.
Groups of defiant students were seen being arrested and rushed to NYPD prison buses. Some had to be physically removed from the camp.
Adams later said: ‘After numerous warnings issued by campus security and the NYPD, students and those occupying the space, NYPD officers intervened to ensure the safety of the campus, students and the staff.
“Columbia University students have a proud history of protesting and speaking out, but we will not be a lawless city.”
Isra Hirsi tweeted before his arrest on Thursday: ‘Those of us in the Gaza Solidarity Camp will not be intimidated.
‘We will stand firm until our demands are met. Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia investments, and TOTAL amnesty for all students facing repression.’
Adams said the arrests were made peacefully, with “no violence or injuries.”
But NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said about 500 students flooded the quad when police entered, shouting angrily and “telling us we’re the KKK.”
Buses full of protesters were expelled as students insulted New York police officers.
Protesters are seen in front of Columbia University, organizing their pro-Gaza rally.
“I am one of three students suspended for showing solidarity with Palestinians facing genocide,” the Democrat’s daughter posted on X.
Protesters protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian organizers as they block a street near Columbia University, after many were arrested.
NYPD officers remove a man as pro-Palestinian protesters march outside Columbia University in New York City on April 18, 2024.
As the handcuffed individuals were loaded onto the buses, a large crowd of protesters invaded the police vehicles in an attempt to impede their movement.
Once more than 100 protesters were forcibly removed from Columbia Park, officers began the task of tearing down the dozens of tents that had been erected.
Shafik called the police just hours after she was accused of directing a flashpoint of anti-Semitism during a congressional hearing into her handling of pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
The Ivy League chief defended “peaceful” protests and students’ right to free speech in the rise of anti-Semitic rhetoric since the start of the Gaza war that led to the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay, and Yale President Liz Magill.
“After numerous warnings issued by campus security and the NYPD to students and those occupying the space, NYPD officers moved in to ensure the safety of the campus, students and staff,” the city’s mayor, Eric Adams, said at a news conference.
Isra Hirsi appeared in a video condemning the university for not listening to students protesting for Palestinians.
Self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hugs Hirsi as her mother, Rep. Ilhan Omar, looks on
But House Republican conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik sharply criticized his leadership at the university, which has 4,000 Jewish students enrolled.
And he accused her of refusing to “enforce her own policies and condemn Jewish hatred on campus, creating a breeding ground for anti-Semitism and a hotbed of support for terrorism by radicalized faculty and students.”
Republican Rep. Burgess Owens told Shafik that the experience of Jewish students at Columbia reminds him of the “hatred and bigotry” he experienced in the Deep South of the 1960s, referring to an Ivy League professor who called the October 7 attack as “impressive.”
But the university president sent an uncompromising email to all staff and students when police began moving in on Thursday.
“I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances,” he wrote.
‘I have determined that the encampment and related disturbances pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University.
“Columbia is committed to allowing members of our community to participate in political expression, within established rules and with respect for everyone’s safety.”
About 60 tents were spread across the grass, some with two large signs reading “liberated zone” and “Gaza solidarity camp.”
Pro-Palestinian students participate in a protest in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, at Columbia University in New York City.
In a video from Wednesday, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters clashed outside the school as one person shouted: ‘We are Hamas!’ while a man wearing an Israeli flag on his back and a yamaka on his head walked past her.
Hirsi’s mother, a member of the Michigan Democratic ‘Squad,’ was among those who accosted Shafik during her congressional appearance, accusing her of singling out pro-Palestinian students and characterizing clashes on campus as between ‘pro- and anti-protesters.’ against war’.
Shafik insisted that he had worked aggressively to combat anti-Semitism on campus, including holding more than 200 meetings on the issue, holding daily campus security team meetings, and working with the NYPD and the FBI. when hate crimes occur on campus.
All of the arrested Columbia students were suspended by the university, which said it was still actively trying to identify those who participated.
Student Layla Saliba of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said they would seek amnesties for the suspended students and criticized Shafik’s decision to send in the police.
“What happened today at Columbia University was an act of violence against Arab students, Muslims, Palestinians, Jewish students and anyone who supports Palestinian liberation,” he said.