Student protesters at Columbia were finally cracked down by police Tuesday night after weeks of unrest sparked by the school’s Gaza Solidarity Camp.
Protesters have been demanding that the university divest from companies with ties to Israel or companies that profit from its war against Hamas.
NYPD officers detained pro-Palestinian students on the Ivy League campus who had taken over Hamilton Hall, causing considerable damage and destruction to the building.
On Wednesday morning, the NYPD reported that more than 280 Columbia and City College students were arrested on Tuesday.
While the fate of those students is currently in the hands of New York’s top colleges and their respective universities, DailyMail.com takes a look at some of the most absurd moments from the past few weeks of pro-terrorist protests.
Calling for ‘humanitarian aid’ at Hamilton Hall
Columbia doctoral student Johannah King-Slutzky, a self-described “political strategist for leftist and progressive causes,” along with some of her fellow keffiyeh-wearing activists, held a press conference in front of the building they had taken.
King-Slutzky claimed that the university was obligated to provide food to students who had barricaded themselves inside the sacred building because they paid for the meal plan at Columbia.
He said the university’s decision on how to approach such a request will depend on “what kind of community and obligation Columbia feels it has toward its students.”
‘Do you want students to die of dehydration and hunger?’ she asked.
‘It’s crazy to say it because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but what we’re asking for is like basic humanitarian aid. For example, could people have a glass of water?
A journalist in the crowd questioned the radical student, who is writing her thesis on Marxist history, about the legitimacy of her request that the school provide resources to students who had carried out a hostile takeover of a building.
“It sounds like you’re saying, ‘We want to be revolutionaries, we want to take over this building, now please bring us some food,'” he said.
King-Slutzky said the group was seeking a “commitment” from Columbia that anyone who attempted to deliver food and water to protesters would be met with violence; At the time she said this, no one had been detained violently or otherwise.
After weeks of unrest, pro-terrorist Columbia student protesters took over Hamilton Hall on Tuesday around 1 a.m.
New York Police Department officers detained dozens of pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University on Tuesday night after they barricaded themselves in the Hamilton Hall building near the Gaza Solidarity Camp.
Protesters shout “We are Hamas!” and ask for privacy
Last week, just days after the Passover holiday, Columbia protesters gathered in the courtyard to chant various activist slogans and battle cries to drive his point further across campus.
One such protester was seen shouting “We are Hamas!”
“Hamas makes us proud, kill another soldier now,” shouted another.
Hamas is the unrepentant radical Palestinian terrorist group that committed the October 7 atrocity, which included the murder of civilians, the rape of Israeli women, and the taking of hundreds of hostages, many of whom have yet to be returned.
October 7 was quickly branded by some university radicals as a legitimate means of resistance to Israel’s alleged occupation of Gaza.
Before and during the Passover holiday, the atmosphere on campus became so untenable for Jewish students that a campus rabbi warned them to stay home amid an incredibly anti-Semitic atmosphere.
All along, student protesters have maintained the position that they have a “right to privacy” and that the media should stop showing up to record them shouting in support of terrorism.
A student confronted Free Beacon journalist Jessica Costescu, who trying to record a video of Mohamed Abdoua North African-Egyptian Muslim anarchist activist and scholar, whom he had seen speaking outside the camp.
The young-looking student sported a keffiyeh, an oversized plaid jacket and a nose ring, as she repeatedly asked the journalist in a monotone voice to stop recording for “safety and privacy.”
Rope dance for peace
In an especially strange show of solidarity with Palestinians in war-torn Gaza, college students performed a red string dance to celebrate Earth Day on Columbia’s sunny, tent-filled quad.
Students wore keffiyehs, COVID masks, and some generally strange outfits to protect their identities as they tangled in a red thread through the interpretive movement.
Fellow student activists stood around the large knot that was taking shape, applauding and holding signs that read “Decolonize, Decarbonize.”
Supporters of the Keffiyeh sports protest watch as members of the NYPD detain protesters from the pro-Palestinian protest camp and Hamilton Hall, where protesters barricaded themselves inside.
“Zionists do not deserve to live”
In one of the most notable moments of the Columbia camp saga, it was revealed that one of the leaders of the loudest student protests, Khymani James, had said publicly, again and again, that “Zionists do not deserve to live.”
A video of James, a non-binary student at the Ivy League school, resurfaced last week, initially a 90-minute livestream he posted of himself sitting in a disciplinary meeting after posting threatening messages online.
In a recording of the broadcast, James meets with employees of Columbia’s Center for Student Success and Intervention via an Instagram post in which he warned Zionists in his direct messages that he “fights to kill.”
An employee asked him, “Do you see why this is problematic?” He replied: ‘No.’
He continues to defend his position that all Zionists “don’t deserve to live,” delivering guffaws and seemingly erratic changes of tone throughout the video.
“Zionists do not deserve to live comfortably, much less Zionists do not deserve to live… I feel very comfortable, very comfortable, asking for those people to die,” he said just before the broadcast ended.
After the uproar over the video, Columbia banned James from campus under a ‘provisional suspension,’ meaning he may or may not be allowed to return to classes.
James, who had previously expressed aspirations of one day becoming a member of the US House of Representatives, has since issued an apology of sorts, in which he apologizes for his exact words but remains steadfast in his position that “Zionism is an ideology that requires the genocide of the Palestinian people. I oppose it in the strongest terms.”
Images and videos showed extensive damage to Hamilton Hall after protesters were cleared Tuesday night.
The Gaza solidarity crowd broke windows, overturned furniture, and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during their brief occupation.
The messy ending
On Tuesday night, police raided Hamilton Hall, arresting more than 100 students and causing no injuries, shutting down the most raucous part of the demonstration to date. It was his second trip to the uptown campus that ended with more than 100 arrests.
The NYPD confirmed that those occupying Hamilton Hall could be charged with criminal trespass and robbery, while those in the encampment could be charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.
However, the university’s problems are far from over. As authorities began their raid, Columbia professors issued a statement condemning the decision to end the protest and blaming President Minouche Shafik’s administration for allowing tensions to reach a boiling point.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also stepped up to the plate, stating that the protest had been co-opted by outside actors and that it was time to shut everything down.
Jewish students and their supporters are angry that it took so long for officials to crack down on protests amid accusations of anti-Semitism.
Regular Columbia students were also kicked off campus by protesters and the administration during the final weeks of classes and the time leading up to finals week.
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